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NATURE 



REVELATION, 



SHOWING THE PRESENT CONDITION OF THE CHURCHES, AND THE CHANGE 
NOW TO COME UPON THE WORLD, BY 

THE SECOND ADVENT, 

IN SPIRIT, OF THE MESSIAH, 

WITH INTERPKETATIONS OF 

PROPHECIES IN DANIEL, 



THE BOOK OF REVELATION. 



"An End, the End is come upon the four corners of the land."— Ezek. vii. 2. 



BY H. H. VAN AMRINGE, 

AUTHOR OF "the SEALS OPENED, OR A TOICE TO THE JEWS." 



NEW-YORK: 
PUBLISHED BY R. P. BIXBY & CO., 

NO. 3 PARK ROW. 



JARED W. BELL, PRINTER. 






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Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1843, by 

R. P. BIXBY & CO., 

in the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the Southern District of New-York 




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PREFACE 



No INTERPRETATION of Sciipture Can be built on disjointed parts. In 
order to be sure that you have a right understanding of a scriptural doc- 
trine, or prophecy, you ought to be certain that there is no passage in the 
Bible which contradicts your opinions. For this reason it was, that, in 
writing " The Seals Opened, or, A Voice to the Jews," I made such 
comments, on very many texts, as I conceived would be beneficial, both 
to sustain my views, affirmatively, and to show that they were not op- 
posed by any portion of Revelation. 

In the following work, it will be seen that I have freely availed myself 
of whatever thoughts or illustrations, are contained in my former publi- 
cation, suited to my present design ; for 1 now wish to arrange, under 
proper heads, the various proofs and arguments on each subject relating 
to the existence, nature, character, and government of the Deity, and our 
duty to Him and to each other, communicated under the types and para- 
bles of the incarnation and atonement of Christ, our God and Saviour : 
His glorious resurrection, and His destruction of sin and death : together, 
also, with the prophetic history of the churches and of the world. 

The most of these chapters, I might have condensed into a much less 
space than they occupy — especially the 7th chapter, which might have 
been comprised within a small limit; for all the objections against the 
divinity of our Saviour, are readily answered, or rather met and obviated, 
solely by stating His two-fold relations^— viz : " in spiritj^^ He is our 
Lord and God ; but, '' according to the fleshy'^^ He is the Son of David, and 
personates the whole family of man. In this representative capacity. He 
is spoken of in language different from that which is applied to Him in 
His relation as Jehovah or the Father, possessing an unrevealable infinity 
of divine attributes. My motives for answering the objections, in full, 
I have stated at the conclusion of that chapter ; and similar reasons have 
prompted me, also, to be more diffuse than I otherwise should have been, 
in other portions of the book ; for I have observed that prejudiced minds 
avail themselves of any pretext to escape from the true doctrine ; and, 



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f . 



4 PREFACE. 

unless the Gospel simplicity be returned upon them, and exhibited again 
and again, they will not sufficiently consider it. 

Had I read Gibbon's Rome, at an earlier period, I might have had a 
much nearer road to my opinion of the present churches. That most 
excellent historian has exhibited, in a clear light, the controversies of 
the corrupted and apostate churchmen, respecting the Trinity of persons 
in the Godhead, and the two natures of Christ, in one person. The 
disputes concerning the duality, or double nature of Christ, succeeded 
the disputes concerning the Trinity of God ; and it was not until the 
Council of Chalcedon, A. D. 451, that the Roman Theology of '« The 
Christ in one person, but in two natures, was announced to the Catholic 
world."*' In speaking on this point, Gibbon says, " During ten centu- 
ries of blindness and servitude, Europe received her religious opinions 
from the oracle of the Vatican ; and the same doctrine, already varnished 
with the rust of antiquity, was admitted, without dispute^ into the creed 
of the Reformers, who disclaimed the supremacy of the Roman Pontiff. 
The Synod of Chalcedon still triumphs in the Protestant Churches; 
but the ferment of controversy has subsided, and the most pious Christ- 
ians of the present day, are ignorant or careless of their own belief con- 
cerning the mystery of the incarnation."! 

What wonder that the deadly wound of the Roman head of the beast, 
was healed, and that the present Protestant forms of professing Christen- 
dom are only another member of the one body of Anti-Christ, since the 
Reformers, as they are named, instead of returning to the Gospel truths, 
erected their edifices, without scrutiny or dispute, on the errors and idol- 
atries of Pagan Councils ! In what part of the Bible do they find it 
alleged that God is three persons in one substance, or that Christ is 
TWO NATURES iu onc persou ? If by " persons," they do not mean dis- 
tinct individualities, but only relations, or attributes considered in regard 
to the divine works of Creation, Redemption, and Sanctification, 
what need of the aid of Councils, or scholastic jargon, to render that 
plain, which the word of God sufficiently reveals } And if, by the two 
natures of Christ, they mean only the mystical union of the body and 
spirit, in one person, this would be no more a mysterious duality of na- 
tures than we all know each living child of Adam, in the body, possesses. 

But, rejoice ; for now the end is come. The covenant of the churches, 
with death and hell, shall no longer stand. Christ, in spirit, is come 
again, from the Holy of Holies, to judge the world, and to reward and 
grant deliverance to His people ! 

''^ Gibbon's Decline and Fall, vol. 6, page 33. f Ibid., pages 33 and 34- 



PREFACE. O 

The important changes, at this season, to take place, will not be in a 
few things, nor for a brief time ; but will be the beginning of a new era, 
and will separate the future from the past, as distinctly as the first advent 
of our Saviour in the flesh. Nor may this new condition of affairs be 
consummated without commotion, and tumult, and fear, and suffering. 
For the false spiritual dynasties, which have usurped their standing in 
heaven, are to pass away with a great noise ; the elements of the pre- 
sent social system will melt with the fervent heat of wickedness ; and 
the nations of the earth will be convulsed and struck against each other, 
and consumed by their own works. 

How preposterous is it for any one to believe that God takes no notice 
of what is done on earth ; or that men, nations, or churches, can really 
prosper in iniquity ! When we flatter ourselves that peace and safety 
are at hand, sudden destruction comes upon us. No law of God can be 
violated with impunity. It is impossible ! And when men think that 
they deceive God, they cheat only their own souls. When they least 
expect it, they are exposed, and driven from every shelter and evasion ; 
they are put to open shame, in the presence of an assembled universe, 
and their very names branded with eternal infamy and abhorrence. 

But I have no thought that the changes now to occur, or, rather, 
begin, will be either miraculous, or, in all their developments, instantane- 
ous. As the preparation has been, so will be the consummation — an 
unfolding and enlarging action of natural laws. Neither does God desire 
the infliction of suffering, nor the committing of any cruel act : those 
who perpetrate the evils, and take part in the violences, must answer for 
their sins. They cannot justify their malignity, nor mitigate the sentence 
against themselves, by pretending that this is a day of Divine lurath. The 
wrath is the wrath of the wickedness of men; and it is no more desired 
by the Lord, in itself, than the cup which our Lord drank upon Golgo- 
tha, and which he prayed might pass away ; but it could not be. 

Was the guilt of Joseph's brethren, who sold him into slavery, in 
Egypt, less atrocious, because his captivity there was overruled by the 
Lord, for good ? But it is useless to urge the point. It is clear and 
manifest. Therefore, take heed, ye who profess to know and serve the 
Lamb of Peace, how you stain your garments with blood, or how you 
help forward the approaching calamities. Christ was, indeed, in his day, 
steeped in blood ; but it was His own blood: and our course must be con- 
formed to the precepts and example, the mercy and long-suffering, the 
gentleness, the meekness and love of Him who gave Himself a ransom 
for His enemies, and who died for His persecutors and murderers. 



b FREE' ACE. • 

We will be much assisted in forming a right conception of the revolu- 
tions now to be developed, by considering the manner in which the old 
world passed into new forms, after the crucifixion and resurrection of our 
Lord, and the preaching of the Gospel. As the foundations of Anti- 
Christian Rome are being removed, several sudden^ momentous, and 
violent revolutions may occur, in different nations, or through many 
nations, and perhaps in society ; but I presume that many years, or ages, 
will elapse before a new order of things will be established, on a settled 
and permanent basis. But this can be only conjectural. For no past his- 
tory can inform us, minutely and correctly, as to the combinations and 
movements hereafter to take place ; experience and observation may store 
us with knowledge and wisdom to discern the operation of causes : but 
X\\e. forms of the effects, while they are yet future, none but the all-seeing 
eye of God can fully explore. 

However, it is entirely within the option of the world, at once to 
place themselves in harmony with the laws of our Creator, both as re- 
gards government and a social arrangement ; and so escape all the afflic- 
tions which are denounced against transgression. For the Almighty 
does not willingly grieve His creation ; and with joy would He bestow on 
us blessings and happiness, instead of visiting us M^ith the consequences of 
rebellion. Let no one, therefore, intermit his intentions to advocate and 
promote an extended and peaceful reformation, on Bible principles ; for 
if such a reform should not be universal and eternal^ it is not because the 
Lord does not, now, at this instant^ elect and desire it — but, because 
mankind will not accept the proffered gift. 

It was in March, 1835, that the real condition of the present churches 
was first unveiled to me, by my mind being prepared and opened to un- 
derstand the prophecies in the book of Revelation. From that time to 
this, I have declared the '' death and hell" of present Christendom. 
What was then disregarded, as the ravings of a supposed monomaniac, is 
now heard, in redoubled sounds, from other and independent sources ; 
and the startling cry, that death is in every house and temple,* must 
soon arouse the slumberers from their lethargy, and send many forth from 
Egypt, t 

* Exod. xii. 30. 

t In the summer of 1840, when I was correcting the proofs of my former work, I first saw 
and read Combe on the Constitution of Man ; and was surprised and gratified to find with 
what accuracy the discoveries in regard to moral duty, arising from the investigation of 
the nature of man, accorded with the instruction of the Scriptures. Spurzheim, I am told, 
is far more explicit than Combe : but I have not read him. 



PREFACE. 7 

Yet, although, from many other and independent sources, it is quite 
manifest that the present condition of society, and of nations, cannot con- 
tinue, I am not aware that an attempt has been made, by any other per- 
son, to revive both Church and State^ as co-members in the resurrection 
of the one body of Christ, our Lord and God. Most of the reformers, 
who appeal to reason, and who wish to establish the happy empire of 
sound sense, appear, to me, to consider our Saviour in the light of a mere 
creation ; while those who regard Him as God, maintain the doctrine 
oi 3k joint finite soul in Christ, with the Deity; and, instead of expecting 
the overthrow and removal of the churches, as the temples of Dagon, 
they felicitate themselves upon the fancied dawn of a millennial reign. 
Or, if any of them believe that certain of the churches are lost in death, 
they attribute, if I mistake not, their condemnation to particular circum- 
scribed principles, and not to a broad fundamental doctrine, which is the 
basis upon which stands the entire cross of God, and the universal sal- 
vation, in righteousness, of all mankind. It is, therefore, apparent that 
the ground occupied by me, is absolutely necessary for the work of re- 
generation ; for no matter how closely you may bring dead limbs and 
joints together, by any social system : and though you may have there 
the sinews, and the flesh, and the covering of skin, yet, unless the Spirit 
of God descend and quicken the carcass, it will possess no more power of 
life than the fragments of a statue, which you may arrange in orderly 
connexion. Our resurrection must be the resurrection of the dead body 
of Christ, by the quickening Spirit of the Lord Himself. 

I have to entreat that no one will condemn me, unheard. Let not your 
prejudices hinder you from yielding, to the following pages, a fair and 
impartial examination and judgment. How know you that I may not be 



Some time in or about January, 1843, 1 was asked to attend a meeting of Fourierites, in 
Bayardstown, Pittsburgh. I had never before heard of Fourier, nor of his principles. I 
went to the meeting ; and a few short addresses were delivered, by some of the persons 
who were conducting it. They were only inquirers, and were wishing to take some 
action in association. One of them lent me Brisbane's wt>rk on Fourierism. I read it with 
delight ; and speedily saw that the body of a social organization, for united action, as the 
receptacle of a spirit of charity and mutual advancement, was there delineated. 

In this work of Brisbane, I had additional indications that the present churches and 
nations are to pass away ; for this transition must follow from his principles. Thus, 
whether we consider man's individual constitution, or the construction of society, or the 
word of God, we gather, from all quarters, the astounding intelligence that the present 
organization of the world is contrary to the laws and harmony of nature ; and that it must 
be destroyed. 

The very fact that we see the evils which surround us, is an evidence that the Spirit of 
the Lord is coming to dispel them ; imless we obstinately harden ourselves. Now, let 
those who gladly seek the truth, lift up their heads ; for their redemption draws nigh ! 



8 PREFACE. 

right ? The arguments which you will read, I was not taught by men of 
this day ; but, in oppositioon to all influences surrounding wie, I have de- 
rived them from the Holy Scriptures, which do not contradict, but con- 
firm NATURE, and upon which I build, as my sole authority, in faith and 
practice. Nor do I announce a complicated system of salvation, nor un- 
revealed mysteries, nor a limited and partial principle, or operation; nor 
can any one set forth a more transcendant, or infinitely glorious and happy 
perfectibility ! I announce that God is our Father ; that our souls are 
created in His image and likeness ; that, if we are like God, God is like 
us ; that the Lord is, in very deed, a rational, volitive, and sensitive Spirit, 
having faculties and sentiments like ourselves, but without imperfec- 
tion ; that, in order to turn and unite us to Him, by a kindred love. He 
assumed and clothed Himself with the first Adam — a fleshly body — 
typical of the universal race of man : thus representing a new and perfect 
humanity, composed of the entire universe of rational existences, as co- 
members, one with another, in the collective body of the Lord ; and for 
ever knit together, and increasing in unending knowledge, and power, and 
holiness, and joy, with the continual and daily increase of the revelation 
of the Spirit of God. 

Who will say that these are not Bible truths ? Who, believing what 
the Bible declares of Christ, can seriously deny that Christ is God? 
The names, the nature, the character, the actions, and the government of 
God, are all ascribed to Christ ; and, both in the Old and in the New 
Testaments, the same, or alike history of God is recorded. You cannot 
erect a Church, except upon the doctrine of the Godhead of our Saviour. 
Reasonable men, whose souls are earnest in the work of religion, will 
not listen to the tale of a finite Redeemer. Our God must be our rock ; 
and no God can save us, who does not veil his glory, and submit his 
power, as a meek and lowly Lamb, pierced and slain by and for his 
children. All other gods, but the God of Israel, raven upon the blood 
and the lives of their flocks ; but Christ, as a good shepherd, gives Him- 
self for His people. He is the only God who is both the victim and the 
Saviour ; and this test, instead of being a disproof of His divinity, is the 
most exalted argument which could be offered, to prove, at once. His 
right to the Eternal Throne, and the invincible certainty that He will 
never relinquish His warfare of love, till He shall have subdued the very 
last enemy to the power of His resurrection, to a participation in His right- 
eousness, and a free and gracious communion in His immortality and un- 
speakable joy. 

H. H. VAN AMRINGE. 
Pittsburgh, June 27, 1843. 



NATURE AND REVELATION. 



CHAPTER L 



INFIDELITY. 



The skeptics of old, did not fall into darkness by looking at the 
heavens, but by stumbling over the systems of dogmatists and 
sophists. These systems they found to be erroneous and contra- 
dictory ; and, therefore, they drew the conclusion that there is no 
certainty. 

Modern skeptics seem to come to their disbelief in the same way. 
They do not set out in a natural and free mode of inquiry for them- 
selves ; but, condemning the dogmas of false theology, the discords 
of sectarian creeds, or the practices of corrupt churches, they deny 
the existence or government of God entirely. 

A lecturer, who was very popular with large numbers of our citi- 
zens, says, " all real knowledge is derived from positive sensa- 
tions.^^ " Whatever we see and feel, and attentively examine, with 
all our senses, we know ; and, respecting things thus investigated^ 
we can afterwards form a correct opinion." " Things which we 
have not ourselves examined, and occurrences which we have not 
ourselves witnessed, but which we receive on the attested sensa- 
tions of others, we may believe, but we do not knowP By " sensa- 
tions^'' she means the reports of our five senses ; <' all, in short, that 
we can see^ hear, feel, taste, or smellP 

Her professed disciples are very few, compared with the great 
body of the people ; but, for a long time, I have had an opinion that 
infidelity in the Revelation of God, proceeds from practical infi- 
delity in the existence of God ; and, if so, then her actual disciples 
form a vast majority of mankind. Because, if any one feltj in his 
2 



10 INFIDELITY. 

heart, that God is — that His holy eye looks upon us — that He reads 
the secret thought and forming intent ; and that He will, most surely, 
bring all things to judgment — if these facts were known as firmly 
as if they were derived from what are called jwsitive sensations^ 
I apprehend no one would doubt that the same Lord who stands by 
him, also speaks to him. 

Let us search our own bosoms. Truth^ as the same writer remarks, 
is a jewel to he found, — not coined. We are to seek and find, — not 
invent and fabricate. Seeking, therefore, the truth — freely against 
all others, boldly against ourselves— let us propose this plain ques- 
tion : You have never been in England — you have never seen 
her metropolis — and, yet, have you the smallest doubt whatever 
that the country and the city exist ? If you were now to travel 
thither, and test the existence of these places, by all your five senses 
together, could you then say, fioiv, I am certain that England and 
London have existence ; whereas, before^ I thought them only 
conjectural 7 

If, in presenting the terms, " Belief ^^ and ^^ Knowledge, ^^ the per- 
sons employing them intend to inform us that our mental certainty 
should be distinguished by different names, as it is conveyed by dif- 
ferent channels or faculties, I should make no objection : the con- 
troversy would be then verbal. But they mean a very different 
thing. They intend, by this distinction, to assert that the only field 
of knowledge for us, is material existence ; and that every other 
subject, whether of God and Spirit, of revelation and righteous- 
ness, of resurrection and judgment, are vain phantasmas. 

The fact is, that the example, which I have already adduced, of 
certainty arising from faith in testimony, and inductive argument, 
is not the strongest which might have been selected. For we do not 
instantly believe every report of others concerning distant lands, or 
objects of knowledge, any more than we instantly believe the im- 
pressions of our own senses, in physical experiments : we wait for 
confirmation, and try the experiments in many ways. But when 
we fully perceive that there is no room for self-deception or impos- 
ture, we then repose, with as much confidence in faith, as in sensa- 
tion. And the reason is, that both beliefs alike, are built on human 
consciousness, under tests, or safeguards, which admit of no decep- 
tion. But, in some of these experiments, or observations, the steps 
are longer than in others ; and those truths which require the briefest 



INFIDELITY. 11 

process, strike us with a quicker and more vivid force. There- 
fore, when I am asked concerning my certainty in the existence of 
a distant region, which I have myself never seen, I must first go 
over, in my mind, the kinds and the concurrence of the various tes- 
timony on which I have formed my judgment. If the process is 
long or remote, I may be as certain, as I am of my own existence, 
of the fact, and yet the conviction will not affect me in the same 
way. There are many truths, however, which we cannot submit 
to the action of our own senses, which, yet, as soon as they are an- 
nounced, excite in us as prompt faith, as any thiUg we can hear, see, 
and feel. For example : — your own father, and his parents, may 
have died before your birth ; and yet you have, instantly, no more 
doubt that your ancestors had life, than you have that you yourself 
exist. If any thing can shake your belief, it is only the still higher 
faith, that the great eternal Creator could, had He chosen it, have 
formed you, by His immediate power. 

From this, it is quite evident that all our real knowledge is not 
derived from our own positive sensations ; if by sensations be meant 
only what '' we can see, hear, feel, taste, or smell." But let me guard 
against misconstruction. I am not now agitating any of the ques- 
tions between the disciples of Locke, Reid, Brown, or Gall. Whether, 
in the manifestations of mind, the whole brain acts but as a single 
organ, or whether it is really an assemblage of many organs, I leave 
to the world to decide, by observation. It is an important subject, 
and is well worthy a free, patient investigation. Nor am I direct- 
ing my arguments against the opinions of philosophers, who believe 
that all the original elements of knowledge enter hy sensation ; 
but that the mind, afterwards^ as a whole, acts upon these elements ; 
and, by induction, consciousness, and other operations, is able, with 
absolute certainty, to reason from things seen, to things unseen, — 
from nature, up to nature's God,— and to range through the whole 
universe of physics, morals, and spirit. They may have, for aught 
that I know, a wrong system ; and wrong systems must do harm. 
But, as they are very far, either from professing or favoring skeptic- 
ism, and as I do not at all perceive that their principles necessarily 
lead to it, I engage not in controversy with them. My present 
remarks are confined to infidels, who, from the use or the ahuse of 
the doctrine of sensations, restrict knowledge only to matter, and 
deny all other existence. 



12 INFIDELITY. 

Permit me to dwell a brief time longer upon this point, by antici- 
pating an objection which may be offered by a materialist. He 
may say, all these examples which you have supposed — viz : a 
country, or a parent — are only matter ; and you cannot destroy the 
doctrine of materiality, by proofs of matter. I answer — I can dis- 
prove their system, by destroying the axiom on which it is founded : 
which is, that we can know, or have certainty of truths, only by 
actually submitting them to our own five animal senses. The 
cases that I have instanced, do abundantly accomplish this. 

But I now proceed further. I assert that there is an existence, 
which is not matter, — which has neither beginning nor ending, — 
which has existed from all eternity, and is indestructible, — which is 
all around us, and every where spread out, — which we can neither 
hear, see, taste, touch, nor smell, — but of which, we have as abso- 
lute certainty as we have of any material object whatever. It may 
be supposed that I mean the Deity. I do not. It is of space I 
speak. Should it please Jehovah immediately to annihilate all 
matter, or to throw it to one side, still space must exist, infinite 
and eternal. Can any thing exclude or shut out space ? Nothing 
can limit it; for, whatever you might suppose as the boundary, 
would be an evidence only of continued, unending extension. To 
imagine that there is a place where space is not, is to imagine that 
there is space where space is not. Think of this ! Here is this 
eternal, infinite extension, before and all around you, of the exist- 
ence of which it is impossible for you to doubt, and yet you can- 
not bring it to the action of a single one of your bodily senses. Its 
existence is, if possible, more certain than that of matter ; for your 
five senses may, perhaps, in some cases, deceive you, in regard to 
the existence of particular bodies of matter ; but, whether deceived 
or not, as to the existence of them, you know that the space, in 
which they might exist, is there. 

Another advance we make : we know that mind exists. The 
materialist says, that mind is nothing but a law of matter. Of 
azote, oxygen, and hydrogen, in their simple states, it certainly is 
not the law ; for all our senses deny it. And, if mind be a law of 
matter, at all, it can only be pretended of organized matter. Organ- 
ization, then, would be the proximate cause, and mind the effect. 
A cause must exist, and act, before the effect takes place. The 
mind of the organization never could have produced the organiza- 



INFIDELITY. 13 

tion ; for, according to the relation mentioned, it is the organization 
which first exists, and produces the mind. What, then, called forth 
the organization? Was it eternal, or created? If eternal, then 
mark the consequence : whatever is eternal, has, from necessity, 
a self-existence, which is independent of all causes, either to create 
or destroy it. For, the very fact that any thing has existed from 
all eternity, is incontrovertible evidence that there never was, at any 
period whatever, any cause to prevent the eternal existence of that 
self-same thing. All eternal existences or organizations, are, there- 
fore, indestructible and imperishable, — else, how could they be 
eternal ? But we behold no organization of that kind. They are 
of dust, and return to dust. Hence, they were created ; and a crea- 
tion of organized forms could have proceeded from nothing but the 
act of a prior mind. That prior, eternal mind, is God. 

What will be answered ? Will it be said that all matter, even 
inert, inorganized matter, viz: the simple gases, have mental 
faculties ; but that they cannot display or exert them, until organ- 
ized ? This does not remove the diificulty. For, if inert matter 
cannot exert or display mind, it is the same as if mind did not exist : 
for, a mind having no power to act^ as mind, can produce no effect 
whatever J as mind. And such matter would, after all, be nothing 
but inert. 

But, conceive, for a moment, that matter, according to the theory 
of Materialists, is eternal, and that this eternal matter has inherent, 
eternal qualities or attributes, whereby it can assume an animal, 
rational existence, — then, eternal matter having, by its own inhe- 
rent, eternal attributes, power of life in itself could, at its mere 
pleasure, command itself eternally to exist, an organized being ; 
and, as the matter of our own bodies would then be ourselves, we, 
ourselves, could, at our own desire, by inherent, indestructible 
attributes, command ourselves never to be in pain, and never to 
perish. 

In conversation, a skeptic argued, in substance, as follows : I 
do not say that matter eternally existed, in any organized form ; 
nor that the elements of matter have, in themselves, and when dis- 
united, any rational and volitive faculties ; but may it not have been 
that matter eternally existed, in a cexidXn preparatory state, whereby, 
from some natural convulsion, it was enabled to assume life; and 
so, by constant decay and renewals of life, in successive forms, 



14 INFIDELITY. 

animation has continued down to the present time : and the death 
of one organization is the cause of the birth of another ? 

Against this supposition, the former reasoning appUes. An eter- 
nal state of matter carries with it its own incontrovertible evidence, 
that, through all eternity, without exception of any kind, there 
never was, and could not be, any cause whatever to prevent that 
eternal state or condition of matter, from being eternal. A convul- 
sion, changing an eternal condition of matter, would be both unna- 
tural and impossible. Even an eternal convulsion must, itself, be 
eternal ; and, to suppose otherwise, implies an absurdity and con- 
tradiction. Materialists, indeed, speak of animalcules being pro- 
iuced by what they call the mere laws of matter. But, if any 
animals be produced, without descent from their kind, this only 
proves that the Omnipotent Intelhgence, instead of confining His 
creation to one peroid of time, is continually exerting his life-giving 
power, either directly, or by the intervention of second causes ; and 
the action of matter upon matter, is no more an independent agent, 
in putrefactive process, than in ordinary paternity. 

Thus, with as much absolute certainty as that with which we 
behold the heavens themselves, we know " that things which are 
see?ij were not made hy things which do appear ;" * and the 
Omnipotent Creator is '•^clearly seen,''^t in His works, even His 
eternal power and Godhead : as much so, as if the Almighty him- 
self stood by us, in a form sensible to our touch and other bodily 
senses. 

Yet the atheist pretends, and, perhaps, persuades himself that he 
is actuated by a love of truth and of his fellow-man ! How self- 
deceived ! Can truth be found by shutting our eyes to rt ? Is he 
a FREE-THINKER, v^ho, chained by voluntary fetters of darkness, 
in the narrow cell of a corrupted heart, refuses to go forth into the 
light of day, and listen to the exulting and joyous voice of nature, 
proclaiming the happy presence and glory of the mighty God and 
Lord — the Holy One^ who has established all things by His power, 
and whose knowledge and benevolence, justice and mercy, are over 
all His works, for correction and government, for judgment and 
salvation ! 

* Heb. xi. 3. f Rom. i. 20 



15 



CHAPTER 11. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 



Judging of the Lord by his works, we know that He possesses, 
without limit, the attributes of power, knowledge, and goodness. 
Besides, how can we conceive that the eternal intelligence, whose 
existence is as boundless as infinity, should be circumscribed by 
any terminating line? 

But, what is meant by Almighty power ? Do we mean by it, an 
absurd ability, — such, for instance, as a power to make a thing to 6e, 
and not to be, at one and the same time, and in the same sense 7 
An Omnipotence of this kind destroys itself. For, according to this 
notion, Almighty power could make itself to be, and not to be ; 
could be self-existent, and yet not existing at all. By Almighty 
power, therefore, we must understand, an ability to do every thing, 
which, in its own nature, is do-able; in other words, every thing 
which does not necessarily imply a self-contradiction. 

Man is a creature of yesterday ; and, although, as regards /w^wr- 
ity^ the infinite Jehovah may perpetuate our existence forever ; yet, 
in respect to the fast^ we are but of few hours. From the very neces- 
sity of our creation, our perfection cannot be absolute. " There is 
none good, but one ; that is God.^^* But, because it is not possi- 
ble for the Lord to create an un-created^ or self-existent, eternal 
being, was it, therefore, sin in Him to make any creation ? Had 
the Lord tjreated man, from a desire for our unhappiness, he might 
well have been charged with malevolence. Power does not make 
right ; and an evil heart, which produces, and rejoices in the mis- 
fortunes of others, is the more hateful, in proportion as its talents 
are exalted. But, what folly and impiety to suppose this of our 
Heavenly Father ! The passion of love, — how strong is it in the 
heart of a mother ! Strong as it is, it is but weak— nay, the whole 
combined afiections of all creation, when brought together, would 
be but weak, if compared with their inexhaustible fountain in the 
bosom of infinite holiness. In our griefs, the Lord himself is 
afilicted ; His eye is ever over us, to guide and protect us ; all His 

* Matt. xix. 17. 



16 THE DIVINE REVELATION. 

laws are framed for our good ; He spreads his rich treasures and 
loving kindness before us. Do we go astray — He seeks us out. 
Do we faint — He bears us in his arms. The angel of His presence 
is always with us ; nor will He ever leave nor forsake His charge, 
till he has presented every man to himself, perfect and undefiled, 
without spot or blemish. " For the creature was made subject to 
vaniti/j NOT willingly, but by reason of Him who hath subjected 
the same, in the hope [or, full assurance] that the creature itself 
also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption^ into the 
glorious liberty of the children of God.^^* " For as in Adam,, 
(viz : by following the sinful example of unbelief, set by a weak 
person, trusting in his own supposed self-life, and seeking his own 
false gratification) all die, even so in Christ, (or, by obeying the 
indwelling principle of righteousness, proceeding from the throne 
of God) shall all be m^ade alive^'t 

But do not misunderstand me. I mean not that we are made 
subject to vanity, with any necessity, moral or physical, that we 
should sin. But, from the very fact of our being a creation, we may 
know that Ave have not, and cannot have self-existence, as an 
uncreated being ; and, therefore, " as the bra7ich cannot bear fruit 
of itself except it abide in the vine, no more can (we,) except 
(we,) abide in^^t (our Father.) Had God, after creating man, 
instantly abandoned him to his own weakness, — had he made 
known to him 710 law of holiness, either from the tvorks or the 
iDord of the Lord, — man, then, however lost in sin and wretched- 
ness, might have been an object of pity, but not of condemnation ; 
for "5m is not imputed lohere there is no laivJ^^ It is however, 
manifest that God did not thus leave us, without a ^witness ;\\ 
because " Death reigned from Adam to Moses ;"1[ nor can we 
have any doubt that sin loas imputed, and justly, from the very 
first act of transgression. We see, therefore, that our loeakness ** 
may be made perfect, through the strength of God ; and while this 
proves the absolute certainty that God has revealed himself, tt it 
establishes, with no less clearness, the truth, that, as rational and 
voluntary agents, we are wholly without excuse, U in choosing 
death and evil, and rejecting life and good. § § 

* Rom. viii. 20, 21. f 1 Cor. xv. 22. t Joliu xv. 4. § Rom. v. 13. 

II Acts xiv. 17. IT Rom. v. 14. ** 2 Cor. xii. 9. ft John viii. SSaiid xv. 22. 

XX Rom. i. 20. §§ John xviii. 40. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 17 

Much vain and foolish reasoning has been expended on the 
questions of free-will and necessity. No one, I presume, would con- 
tend that an irrational being, and one not having the power of 
volition, is accountable. A rational being is a being so constituted 
that his inferences and judgments are influenced and continued by- 
facts and comparisons. A voluntary, or volitive being, is one 
whose will is influenced and directed by motives, desires, or incli- 
nations. He who possesses these faculties, and has objects placed 
before him, between which he may choose, has free-will, and is 
accountable. The very fact that any being is made better and 
more happy, by correction and education, proves, at least, his 
responsibility. For, if these circumstances produce beneficial 
results, then, it is right to apply them. The whole history of man 
establishes his own acknowledgment that he is justly liable to 
answer for his conduct. And, if, to man^ then we are accountable 
also to God. For, if, by our very mental constitution, we are 
exempt from responsibility to a Divine Lawgiver, neither could 
we, rightfully, be held accountable to our fellow-man: the son 
would owe no duty to his parent, nor the citizen to his country. 

Some persons seem to suppose, that the nature of the revealed 
law exempts us from responsibility to the Almighty, while they 
admit our obligations under human enactments ; for the latter^ it 
may be thought, are more fitted to our capacities. Faith is above 
reason ; or, even, contrary to it ! This, unhappily appears to be 
the doctrine of some men. And, true it is, we can never know all 
things. For ever advancing, our march is still onward, through 
infinite extent. But the reason why we do not know the truth, is 
not because, it is hostile to our faculties, but because it lies too far 
off ; beyond our reach, or mental distance. My eye is fitted with 
power to discern certain material objects : but there are objects, 
which are scattered on the surface of any one of the stars, in them- 
selves suited to the perception of my eye, but they lie beyond my 
visual distance, and I cannot see them. So, also, objects are near 
me, but they are obscured by mist or other cause. And, in this 
manner it is with spiritual truths. The very purpose of our cre- 
ation is, that we may " Fear God^ and keep his commandments P * 
Therefore, it is demonstrable that our faculties are framed with 
reference to this duty. In regard to the truths which are placed 

Eccl. xii. 13. 



18 THE DIVINE REVELATION. 

SO far off, that they are beyond the knowing distance of our minds, 
God reveals, or brings and presents them to us ; and then they 
are to be judged, as other truths, of the like character. Where our 
want of vision proceeds from the mist or disinclination of sin, the 
fault is not in our faculties, but in our corrupt abuse of them. Let 
no one, then, flatter himself that he can stand at the judgment seat 
of Christ, and justify his disobedience, under the pretence of the 
want of ability, " I call, (says the Lord,) heaven and earth to re- 
cord, this day, against you, that I have set before you life and 
death, blessing and cursing ; therefore, choose life, that both 
thou and thy seed may live.^'' * The faculties, to enable us to 
choose, are already ours ; they are the gift of God ; and, to those 
very faculties, already possessed by us, is the revelation of God 
addressed : and, it is addressed to us, because, we have those 
faculties. These talents are bestowed for use, not for inaction ; 
and he who neglects them, will find, too late, that every trans- 
gression and disobedience must, from their own nature, bring with 
them their "just recompense of reward."! 

From what has been said, we deduce the important truth, that 
man must be the subject of tioo births, entirely different from each 
other. The first : by which he is originally created, or born into 
essential existence ; in himself, weak and destitute, but a rational 
and accountable being, with power to accept or reject objects sub- 
mitted to his choice. The second : by which he takes hold of the 
offered righteousness of God ; becomes strong and ascends by 
faith, hope, and love, to the throne of the Almighty; and is seated 
there, by the side of the Father. The first birth is typified by 
Adam, or the flesh ; the new, or second birth, is typified by Christy 
or the Spirit. All who trust in the first birth, alone, or in the 
flesh, perish or die; all ivho are born again, or anew in the 
Spirit, " through the faith of the operation of God,^^ are raised 
up from the dead, and live in Christ or God.X In our first birth, 
we have no participation whatever ; but in our second, we are 
workers together with the Lord.§ Yet, even here, our part con- 
sists in accctping, obeying, follotoing, and keejnng ; and not in 
devising, forming, originating, or creating. No man can come 
to God, except the Father draw him. II All are called ; but com- 

* Deut. XXX. 19. t Heb. ii. 2. % John iii. 3; Col. ii. xii. 

§ Matt. xi. 28 ; 2 Cor. vi. 1. || John vi. xliv. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 19 

psLTdLtively few, in the existing, or in any past age of the world, have 
accepted or obeyed the call, in God's chosen way : viz. in sincere 
faith and good works, according to the purpose of God. For the 
carnal heart, which is typified by the flesh, and also by Satan, or a 
spirit of opposition to God, is filled with enmity against the divine 
mind ; and seeks all modes to evade His law. Our merciful Sa- 
viour, however, who knows the heart of man, and foreknows all 
our devices, has predestinated and solemnly declared by Himself, 
that unto Him every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess to 
the glory of God ; and that " all that are incensed against Him^ 
shall be ashamed.''^* Wherefore, He continues His urgent entrea- 
ties, and the exhibitions of His everlasting love ; He cuts off, from 
man, his idols ; and hedges us round about by the circumstances 
and fruits of our own evil works, which, as a fire devouring the 
soul, permit us to have no peace nor rest, until, in the very midst 
of this hell, which we ourselves have made, we call out, in agony 
of heart, and are delivered by the merciful kindness of our Saviour. 
For sin, in itself, has no tendency to make us love virtue ; on the 
contrary, the more deeply we sink into sin or hell, and the longer 
we abide in it, the more abhorrent is holiness to our sentiments. 
But the consequences of sin, its own immediate effect upon us, 
and the unhappy and afflictive circumstances with which, in the 
providence of the Lord, it surrounds us, compel us to consider : 
We look round, and behold the enormity of the principle upon 
which we have been acting, and then we exclaim, " O, wretched 
man that I am ! ivho shall deliver me from the body of this 
death ?^^t When brought to this condition, the sinner sees the 
light, and gladly rushes to it ; and in this manner, will God con- 
quer all his enemies: for even our punishments are so many 
links in the chain of our unspeakable salvation. We quit false- 
hood, because, in its own nature and in all its consequences, it is 
hateful and tormenting ; and we embrace and cling to the truth, 
because, only the truth can satisfy the faculties which our Creator 
has bestowed upon us ; and the more we know and do the truth, 
the more firmly and persistingly we love and remain in it. 

In order that we may be brought, more perfectly, to understand 
these doctrines of God, and that His revelation, or the manifesta- 
tion of His mind in our hearts, may be increased and enlarged, as 

* Isaiah xlv. 23, 25; Rom. xiv, 11; Phil. ii. 10. f Rom. vii. 24. 



20 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 



time proceeds, (for as the Lord is infinite, He is continually infusing 
into us fresh portions of His knowledge.)* He has been pleased to 
prepare and preserve a history of His word, from the earliest crea- 
tion. This history He has guarded, if not by outward miracles, 
at least by effectual providences, in such a way, that we can have 
no doubt it has been kept pure from mixture with false teaching ; 
for it is but reasonable to suppose, that the Lord would preserve it, 
with accuracy, for the purpose for which it is designed. Some of 
the holy writers were specially inspired to declare the words 
which God Himself uttered to them, as prophets or messengers. 
Others were inspired hy the love of truth^ truly and faithfully to 
record, for our instruction, those things, which they themselves 
were eye or ear loitnesses of ; or, which were delivered to them by 
faithful and truth-telling disciples, who themselves spoke of what 
they themselves knew.t If, therefore, typograpical or other errors 
exist in these sacred canons, we may be certain that they are only 
of such a kind, as a candid and diligent attention and criticism 
will detect and rectify. For against all others, God would, most 
unquestionably, preserve His own book.t 

Infidels, however, object to this book ; because, say they, it con- 
tains nothing but the history of a revelation made to others, not to 
us. Why, they ask, does not the Lord reveal Himself to us, as He 
did formerly to others? Nay, they add, why, if there be a God, 
does He not write the truths of His existence and government upon 
the entire vault of heaven, so that every tongue and nation might 
read His word ? 

It is undeniable that God does make a revelation to every man. 
For, Christ, our God and only light, " lighteth every man that 
Cometh into the world?^\ We are saved, not by a light to others, 
but by a light or the word, to ourselves. God continually speaks 
to every descendant of Adam, through all the faculties which the 
Lord has conferred upon us, and by a voice issuing from all the 
works and the providenees of the Lord. These faculties, however, 
are of different degrees of power and honor, compared among them- 
selves ; and the lower faculties, acted upon by the instrumentality 
of the bodily senses, are not of the highest glory, or sanctifying 
influence. Therefore, it is, as I presume, that the Lord says: 

* Col. ii. 19. t Luke i. 1, 4; John xix. 35; Acts i. 21, 22; Acts i. 8; Luke xxiv. 48. 
t Key. xxii. 18, 19; § John i. 9. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 21 

" Thomas^ because thou hast seen me, thou hast believed : blessed 
are they that have not seen, and yet have believed.''^* Higher 
faculties are employed in the latter instance, than in the former ; 
and the fruit partakes of the fatness of the tree. We cannot ration- 
ally suppose that the Lord has left an older age of the world — viz. 
the present, with fewer or weaker sources of instruction than its 
infancy ; for in addition to all the evidence had by our fathers, 
we enjoy, every day, from fulfilments of prophecy, and increasing 
scientific discoveries, new displays and confirmations of divine 
truth. All men are united by a common bond ; our destinies are 
mingled together ; we have faculties or capacities for interchang- 
ing sentiment, receiving evidence, and perpetuating instruction: 
and any revelation made to any messenger, and by him faithfully 
communicated to the world, is a light, or a revelation to the world. 
No man, nation, or age, can be perfect without deriving strength 
from all other men, nations, and ages ; for we are members one of 
another, and the common tie, which I have mentioned, runs 
throughout the whole creation. 

But the skeptic is unsatisfied. He would have the great truths 
of the existence and government of God, written in blazing charac- 
ters, upon the face of heaven ! His wish is already granted. By 
day and night, the firmament proclaims the eternal power and god- 
head of our Maker, and His unceasing love and protection. In 
what speech or language may their lights not be read ! And do 
you not call these a hand- writing upon the vault of heaven? 
Would it be any more intelligible, think you, in Hebrew, Greek, 
Latin, or some other letteri?ig, soon, also, to be numbered with the 
dead? God has emblazoned it, in His own sacred, all-glorious 
HIEROGLYPHS, indcstructible and ever-living; and yet, because 
He has so written it, in characters of burning truth, for ever, the 
atheist or skeptic draws around him the mantle of his own dark- 
ness, and says, these are nothing but the laws of nature. 

Many causes of opposition and unbelief are alleged by infidels 
against the sacred Scriptures. We might expect this : for how can 
the finite mind, in its own power, comprehend infinity ? Therefore, 
the carnal mind typified as already stated by the '•^flesh,^'' or the 
" natural man, receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they 
are foolishness unto him ; neither can he know them, because they 

* John XX. 29. 



22 THE DIVINE REVELATION. 

are spiritually discerned."* All great reforms are in advance of the 
world, and have to encounter the opposition of ambition, ignorance, 
and avarice. And more especially is this the case, in the spiritual re- 
generation of which we speak ; for it is actually not a meve advance, 
but an entire 7ieiD hirtJt ; the " old maii,''^ with its deceitful lusts, is 
put off, and the " neio man'^ is put on, " which, after God, is created 
in righteousness and true holiness.^^t 

Much is said, by unbelievers, about the tree of knowledge of good 
and evil, and the sin of Adam. How hard, say they, that God 
should forbid free inquiry, and how severe the doom for so venial 
an offence, as the eating of a trifling fruit. They forget that the 
principle of obedience to the divine law, necessarily implies or in- 
cludes the whole question, in all its extent of life and death. God, 
at the creation of Adam, made himself known to him ; placed him 
in a situation, surrounded with every thing suitable or beneficial ; 
and exhibited before him, as a free agent, the law of life or faith, 
and the law of death or disobedience. You shall keep my com- 
mandments, (we may suppose him to say ;) of the fruits of all these 
trees you may freely eat, but of this tree, you shall not eat, nor 
touch it ; for I have selected and appointed it, as a test to yourselves, 
an outward, visible sign and probational " Tree of Knoidedge,^^ 
(to you,) " of good^'' (or obedience,) " and evilj'' (or disobedience ;) 
"/or in the day that thou eateth thereof, thou shall surely die.^^t 
INo commandment, considered in itself, works love in the heart of 
the person to whom it is addressed. Whether we love the object 
or duty commanded, will depend on other circumstances, beside the 
mere fact of its being commanded. If a father should command a 
wicked and revengeful son not to hate his brother ; the mere fact of 
this being commanded, would not change his heart. To be sure, 
if I love my father, this love is another circumstance, adding 
force to the commandment ; and it may impel me to review my 
conduct and repent. But the mere commandment itself, addressed 
to a sinful heart, works no change. Something else must be done, 
to reform the affections ; the law itself must be made honorable by 
some exhibition of truth, or consequence not before perceived or 
believed by us. But how can this be effected with regard to the divine 
commandment and righteousness, which are as far above our own 
unassisted strength as heaven is from hell ? God, indeed, can accom- 

* 1 Cor. ii. 14; John i. 5. f Eph. ir. 22, 24. t Gen. ii. 17. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 23 

plish it. But the mode which he adopts is, in the veri/ first instance, 
to place us under a law, which is the beginning of all instruc- 
tion, viz : — the law of obedience.* When a finite being, having no 
life in himself, violates that law which requires him to be engrafted 
on his Creator ; when he yields to the temptation of lust or pride 
in his own heart, and says, I will be as God, and acknowledge no 
superior, he dies from the very necessity of his rebellion. For his 
rebellion itself, is death to all holiness ; that is, to a life in God. 

Certain other objections, which are made against the Holy Bible, 
are founded on the real or pretended ignorance of the Jews, as to 
natural science; and the alleged cruelty of this "elect people," in 
their extermination, by divine command, of the Canaanites. 

But why should we suppose that our Lord would bodily descend 
from heaven to earth, to teach merely statural science ? He has not 
only given us facilities to obtain such knowledge, but has placed 
the very objects from which it is to be obtained, within our actual 
grasp and eye-sight. We have nothing to do, therefore, but to look, 
observe, and receive ! But in respect to the knowledge of Himself, 
it is different ; for we can no more of ourselves know the life of 
God, than we can take wings and fly to the remotest bounds of 
space. Hence then, our merciful and gracious Father, is pleased 
to exhibit and reveal Himself in a visible form ; and by types, para- 
bles, and in every other manner, to put spiritual life and death 
before us, as distinctly and immediately, as he has already placed 
matter itself before us. 

Yet it is not true that the Jews were an ignorant people. Their 
ceremonies and institutions were purposely designed to keep them 
a secluded and peculiar race, fenced in and separated from Gentile 
idolatries until the Messiah should come ; who was the " substance^'' 
indicated by the Mosaic economy. So far from being an ignorant 
people, you will look in vain, among other books, for specimens of 
beauty, sublimity, pathos, and sound wisdom, like those exhibited 
in the Hebrew prophets, poets, and historians. Deficient, unques- 
tionably, they were, in the arts, discoveries, and refinements which 
are originated and fostered by commercial activity and enterprise. 
For the Lord did not cause His own laws of nature and of charac- 
ter to operate with less consistency or power in Jerusalem than in 
Tyre : the people of both those cities obtained a character governed 

** Exod. xix. 5: Deut. viii. 20. 




24 THE DIVINE REVELATION. 

by a connexion between cause and effect. The Jews, resting in an 
outward, typical righteousness, became proud, bigotted, hard-of- 
heart, and averse to all inward holiness. Great were and are their 
sins; bitter has been and is their punishment. But would the 
Tyrians have done better than Israel ; or would the modern British, 
or the favored Americans? Were our own history written by holy 
and impartial penmen, as was the history of Judah, we should find 
our ^'■glorious heaut'if no less " a fading flower ^^"^ than that which, 
long since, withered and was " trodden under feet^ on the rich 
valleys of Palestine.* 

Let us, also, bear in mind that the sacred writers are of ancient, 
very ancient days. They speak in that style and dress of words 
and figures, which was customary at the time. Theirs was di present 
revelation, to their own nation, at that time, and future^ as regards 
ours. What would we think of an objection to a present writer or 
teacher, addressing the world noio^ that he spoke in a style and 
manner of illustration, suited to the people whom he instructed ; and 
that he did not transport himself forward some two, four, or fifty cen- 
turies in advance of philosophic knowledge, or customs and lan- 
guage ? The phraseology of the Bible writers may, indeed, be found 
distasteful at this day, to certain refined and fastidious minds ; but 
so would their body-clothes, if now these venerable Hebrews were 
to arise in presence, and in their antiquated garments before us. 
Yet should we turn from them, on that account ? The man is all 
there, fervent, devout and wise-hearted ; uttering truth with a 
voice, deep as from the sepulchre, but clear and startling as the 
sudden voice of God himself, speaking from the heavens. 

However, as infidels are extremely tender-hearted, just, and mer- 
ciful, they cannot abide the idea of God bringing destruction upon 
the poor, innocent Canaanites. As for the Jews, — they deserved no 
compassion whatever ; and the Lord was very remiss, indeed, in not 
sinking by an earthquake, or destroying by fire, the wicked de- 
scendants of Jacob, who sold their brother into Egypt, and who 
afterwards so frequently rebelled against their best benefactors. 
What sort of a people are these Jews now ? ask they : are they 
not '' an astonishment^ a proverb^ and a by-word, among all na- 
tions, whither the Lord " has led them ?t Therefore as they are 
every where scattered and cast down, for not obeying the command- 

* Isaih. xxviii. 1, 4. t Deut. xxviii. 37. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 25 

ments of God, it is evident that the Lord was very much mistaken 
in originally calling and separating them as His people. 

The sincerity of the hatred of unbelieving Gentiles, against Israel, 
cannot be doubted. They have given, alas, too many infallible 
proofs of it ; and have assisted, with their whole souls, in helping 
forward the afflictions of the widowed people. Whether their pro- 
fessed sympathy for the Canaanites is really felt, or is only the re- 
sult of still greater enmity against God, than they entertain even 
against any of their fellow-men, is a question not difficult to answer 
from their conduct. 

The Lord destroyed the old world by a flood, — w^e7^, women, and 
children, — excepting one family and their possessions. But what 
was the flood, but the will and the arm of God ? When, in the 
lapse of time, the neio world followed in the transgressions of the 
old, the Lord prepared to set apart a people, as a pepetual type, 
to denote to all ages and nations, the incontrovertible truth, that 
the elements of nature are nothing but the servants and hand- 
maids, specially appointed by the Lord, to execute His purpose ; 
and that, although invisible, the Lord is actually in every city and 
land, as a king, governor, and judge, directing, in His sovereign 
power and mercy, every affliction that befalls us.* Wherefore He 
called Abram, and strengthened him with His promise and pro- 
phecy. But, notwithstanding, the Lord foresaw that, by the in- 
fluence of precept and example, Abraham's posterity would even- 
tually keep His way, and do justice and judgment, that He might 
bring His promise upon them ;t yet He, also, foreknew that they 
would need repeated chastisements for their own transgressions. 
Among other punishments, they were to undergo a servitude in 
Egypt, for the sin of selling their brother. For God is no minister 
of sin ; nor is He any respecter of persons. Beside, in His long suf- 
fering, He did not wish to bring upon the Canaanites immediate 
condemnation and destruction. Hence, He says to the father of the 
faithful, " know, of a surety, that thy seed shall be a stranger in a 
land that is not theirs, and shall serve them ; and they shall afflict 
them four hundred years. And, also, that nation, whom they serve, 
will I judge ; and, afterward, shall they come out with great sub- 
stance."! *' But, in the fourth generation, shall they come hither 
again ; for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet fulVX As it 

* Amos ii. 6. f Gen. xviii. 17-19, % Gen. xv. 13, 14, 16. 

4 



26 THE DIVINE REVELATION. 

was foretold, so it came to pass ; and it is not necessary for me to 
rehearse the events particularly. Israel and Jerusalem are une- 
quivocally mentioned as a typical people and city, emblematic of 
righteousness ;* and in Canaan, or in other places, Babylon, eis the 
opposite of them, is typical of idolatry and sin. When we enter 
upon the promised land of holiness, by faith in Christ, (our spiritual 
Joshua,) we are required to spare no old sin nor vice ; but to seek a 
clean hearty and to be sanctified wholly from all the remains of 
iniquity. Spare no Agag whatever; however tall, graceful, or 
comely the unrighteousness may appear ; but slay or heio him to 
pieces.^ For " it shall come to pass, that those which ye let remain 
of them, shall be pricks in your eyes, and thorns in your sides, and 
shall vex you in the land wherein ye dwell ; morever, it shall 
come to pass, that I shall do unto you, as I thought to do unto to 
themyx All these curses, and destructions upon sin, are actually 
blessings and salvation to the sinner ; for they declare the benevo- 
lent and holy purpose of God, that He will not let us rest in sin^ 
but will deliver us from all the enemies or Canaanites of our 
hearts, and present us without spot or blemish to Himself § Yet, 
forsooth, a wise and mercy-loving infidel, who delights all day and 
night in scenes of violence, hate, and falsehood, and whose wrath is 
as unsparing as the grave, will profess great abhorrence at the love 
and justice of God, in doin^ to the people of Canaan that which the 
sovereign and all-ruling Jehovah does, each day of our lives, to the 
wicked and unrepenting. For Canaan being a type of sin, how 
can it happen that any idolater shall be spared ? "for the wages of 
sin is death."l! Therefore, unbelieving man, and you, also, who 
" hold the truth in unrighteousness ^^^^ lay not the flattering illusion 
to your soul, that God, according to your mistaken idea of loving- 
kindness, will permit you to conceal, and bury the goodly robe of 
Shinar, and the skekels of silver and gold in the earth, in the 
midst of your heart :** for the Lord will surely bring your sin to 
light, and your own brethren shall stone and consume you with the 
word and the fire of truth. No Canaanite shall dwell in the New 
Jerusalem, the holy city of God ; nor any one, who works un- 
righteousnessft. 

* Gal. ir. 24-26; Rev. xxi. 10; Rom. ix, 8; Gal. vi. 16. t 1 Sam. xv. 33. 

X Numbers xxxiii. 55, 56. § Eph. v. 27. || Rom. vi. 23. IT Rom. i. 18. 

** Josh. vii. 21. tt Zach. xiv. 21; Rev. xxi. 27. 



THE DIVINE REVELATION. 27 

One other objection, by infidels, I will briefly notice ; which is, 
that we have no sufficient evidence of the authenticity of the Scrip- 
tures, I refer my readers to Lardner and Paley, for a complete 
refutation of the assertion. That little book, Horoe Paulince, may, 
itself set the objection at rest. But what folly in any one to pretend 
that the Scriptures are a forgery, or an imposture ! What is the object 
of the revelation of God ? Is it not to deliver and save the world 
from hell, and to bring them to heaven, to the throne of the Deity? 
Now the fact is, that the word of truth, contained in the Scrip- 
tures, faithfully kept, does do that very things and there is no other 
way under heaven, given among men, whereby we can he saved. 
Look then at this internal evidence, which is greater than 
any outward proofs or disproofs, of what nature soever, they 
be. I ask, what kind of revelation is that, which reveals or dis- 
closes God and heaven, and exalts us thither to dwell forever in 
holiness and happiness, and at the same moment, throws open the 
charnel houses of death and hell, and breaks and forever des- 
troys their empire ? Is it not, nay, must it not be the word of the 
ever-living God, who alone hath life in Himself, and is capable of 
communicating it to others ? " Either make the tree good and his 
fruit good ; or else make the tree corrupt and his fruit corrupt ; for 
the tree is known by his fruit."* 

Suppose that, long after this age, a period of mental darkness 
should again come on the earth, and that all trace of the Newtonian 
philosophy should be lost. Imagine then, that after a very long in- 
terval some one should find a book, containing the true principles 
of physical science, and applying the laws of gravitation and mo- 
tion to the heavenly bodies and their revolutions. If, after mature 
and diligent study, observation, and experiment, he should find 
that the sun, moon, and stars actually do perform all their circuits, 
in exact obedience to those very principles, and if, founding his 
calculations on them, he could precisely foretel eclipses, conjunc- 
tions, and oppositions in the firmanent, would he have the least 
doubt, that the book was the genuine production of an author, who 
knew that which he professed to teach ! Men might, indeed, in such 
a case, have a dispute, whether the person who compiled the work 
was named Newton, or something else ; but of the truth of the au- 
thor, be he who he might, they could have no question. Now in 

* Matt. xii. 83. 



28 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 

the Bible we have this additional advantage : that not only do the 
principles, there contained, j)rove themselves^ but they prove, also, 
their authorship ; for none hut God could declare them^ and those 
identical " ivitnesses^'* to whom the Lord delivered his word, that 
they might be made instruments in the instruction and conversion 
of others. 

When men talk of human art and craft forging the Scriptures, 
they might as well talk of human power forging the sun ! Can the 
hate of man forge the eternal love of God ; or can falsehood forge 
immutable truth ? It is a common saying, that bad men could not 
forge the Scriptures, and good men luould not. But the saying does 
not go far enough. For neither good nor bad men could, had they 
ever so much desired it, have given origin to the holy word. No 
man is good, except so far he is engrafted by faith on the Lord ; 
nor even then, does any created being know all of God. How 
then could all the strength of combined created intelligences know 
any thing of the true character of God, except so far as the Lord 
has been pleased to reveal himself? 



CHAPTER III. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 



Our Lord asked the Pharisees, ^^what think ye of Christ 7^^^ 
This is an all-important question ; and on the right answer to it, 
depends the knowledge of eternal life. 

It is said, we are saved through faith.X But Paul, in another 
place, says, " we are saved by hopeJ^^ And the Lord, speaking by 
Hosea, says, «' my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge,^ 
All these texts illustrate but one and the same truth, under different 
relations or aspects ; for " this is eternal life, (as our Lord Himself 
says,) that they might knoiu thee^ the only true God, and Jesu9 
Christ, whom thou hast sent !"1[ 

* Luke i. 1-4. t Matt. xxii. 42, X Eph. ii. 8; Hab. ii. 4. § Rom. viii. 24. 

II Hos. iv. 6. ir John rii. 3. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 29 

There is nothing mystical, nor arbitrary, in this manner of salva- 
tion. For can any one attain holiness except by first seeing and 
knowing God, as He really is; beholding and loving His true 
character ; and striving, with all diligence, faithfulness, and perse- 
verance, to be conformed to His divine image, and to do the work 
of God with singleness of heart ? '' I am the way, and the truth, and 
the life," (says Jesus ;) "no man cometh unto the Father but by me ; 
if ye had knoion me, ye should have known my Father also !"* It 
is the truths that makes us free.f The Jews crucified the Lord of 
glory, because they did not knoio God.t Had they had a right know- 
ledge of God, they never would have rejected and slain the Prince 
of Life, and have desired a murderer to be granted to them in his 
place. § 

Hence you see the absolute necessity of knowledge.W We are 
saved by the knoiuledge of Christ ; because, as Christ is God, a 
knowledge of Christ is a knowledge of God ; for, as the Lord says, 
" land my Father are oneP^ The Jews might have known this. 
For abundant evidence was daily exhibited to them ; but they were 
perverse in their minds, and would not heed nor examine the tes- 
timony. Our Saviour, speaking of them, says : ''if I had not done 
among them the works, which none other man did, they had not 
had sin ; but now, have they both seen and hated both me and my 
Father r'*"^ 

Why cannot Christ be God? He is expressly called, "the 
mighty God ; the everlasting Father ; the Prince of Peace ! "ft 
And what reason can we assign, for denying that the Lord is, in 
very deed, that same God, whom he is said to be ? Not only is 
Christ called by the names and titles given to God ; but the incom- 
municable attributes, and the proper divine actions and govern- 
ment of God, are ascribed to him, in his own right as God, in 
such numerous passages, that to transcribe them would swell my 
book to a great size ; and even to quote all the texts, would occupy 
too large a space.tt 

* John xiv. 6-7. f John viii. 32. X Luke xxiii. 34; John viii. 19. 

§ 1 Cor. ii. 8: Acts iii. 17. || Hab. ii. 14; Pror. viii. 10; Jer. iii. 15; 2 Cor. iv. 6; 

Eph. iv. 13; Hos. iv. 1; 1 Cor. xv. 34; 2 Peter i. 2; Job xxxviii. 2; 1 John v. 20; 

Isaiah xlix.26; Titus ii. 13. IT John x. 30. ** John xv. 24. ft Isaiah ix. 6. 
XX Exod. xxix. 45 ; 1 Kings vi. 13; Rev. xxi. 3; Isaiah xxxv. 4-6; Mai. iv; Isaiah xl. 3-5; 

John i. 23 ; Isaiah xliv. 6 ; Rev. xix. 16 ; Rev- xxii. 13 ; Exod. iii. 14 ; John viii. 58 ; Col. i. 17 ; 

John i. 1 ; John xi.28 ; Heb. i. 1-8,- Rev. i. 11-18, &c. &c. &c. 



30 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 

The conduct of the Jews, when our Saviour called himself one 
with God, accounts for the reason why this doctrine of the divinity 
of our Lord, is so abhorrent to the natural mind. " The Jews 
answered him, saying, for a good work we stone thee not ; but for 
blasphemy, and because that thou^ being a man, maketh thyself 
God.''''* From this cause, this lack of knoioledge, it was that Christ, 
the GoD-MAN, was rejected by the synagogues ; and, owing to the 
same ignorange, our God and Messiah, who purchased us "^^t^A 
His own bloody^t is now also rejected by the churches. 

But why may not the everlasting Jehovah take upon himself the 
form of a servant, and be made in the likeness of men ?l May not 
the eternal and infinite Spirit, who is every where, and at all 
times and forever, full and perfect in all places, exhibit, at one and 
the same time, as many visible manifestations of His presence^ as 
He pleases ? May not He he full and 'perfect God, in the relation 
which He sustains to us, as the Father or Creator ; full and 
perfect also, in His relation as God, the Redeemer and Saviour, 
^^ called the Son of God," because His incarnation was miracii- 
lously begotten by the poiver of the highest ; § and no less full 
and perfect, in His relation as God the Sanctifier and Com- 
forter, when after faith in Him, the same one and only God, 
abides in our hearts, and teaches us, and brings all things to our 
remembrance ? The fact is, that all these three relations or 
characters necessarily belong to God ; and cannot be affirmed of 
any created or finite mind. For all created souls, instead of possess- 
ing or exerting these attributes, would themselves stand in need 
of their influence, from the one great Supreme, who alone is the 
fountain of life and immortality. Besides, we are positively assured 
that the Lord will not give His glory to another, \\ and this, too, in 
connexion with passages of Scripture, which leave no doubt that the 
Lord refers to Himself in His character of Redeemer and Saviour. 
His language is, ''for my name's sake will I defer mine anger, 
and for my praise will I refrain for thee, that I cut thee not off. 
Behold I have refined thee, but not loith silver ; I have chosen 
thee in the furnace of afiiiction. For mine own sake, even for 
mine oion sake^ will I do it ; for how should my name be polluted? 
And I WILL not give my glory unto another. Harken 
unto me, O Jacob and Israel, my called ; I am He ; I am the first ^ 

* John X. 33. t Acts xx. 28. t Phil. ii. 7. § Luke i. 35. |1 Isaiah xlii. 8. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 31 

I also am the last. My hand, also, hath laid the foundation of 
the earthj and my right hand hath spanned the heavens ; when I 
call unto them, they stand up together."* How can we hesitate 
in admitting that this denotes our God and Redeemer, the Lord 
Jesus? For compare what is said in Mai. iii. 1-6 ; John i. 1-23 ; 
Acts ix. 1-20 ; Rev. i. 3-18 ; Rev. ii. 8 ; Rev. xxi. 3-7 ; from 
which it is quite evident that the same God, who purchased His 
church " icith His own blood,^^t is also the God of Jacob ; and that 
His glory He does not, will not, and cannot part with. 

But because this gospel doctrine of the cross of God is ^^foolish- 
ness" and an ^^ offence'^ to Jew and Gentile ; to Unitarian and Trin- 
itarian ; to professed infidel and professing believer ; since it is 
rejected and abhorred by every church, without, as I believe, one 
solitary/ exception^ throughout all Christendom ; and yet, since 
it is the only ground and hope of salvation, I earnestly entreat 
the candid attention of my readers to some arguments and proofs, 
which I shall offer on the subject. 

I cannot, for my part, tell what the nature of the infinite Spirit is, 
except so far as God has been pleased to present it to the under- 
standing of my faculties. I turn, therefore, to the law and the testi- 
mony ; and whatsoever I speak not according to their word, I am 
willing should be adjudged as written in darkness.t 

We read that " God created man in His own image, in the image 
of God."§ Also, God is called our Father, II and not merely our 
Father, in the sense of a Creator, for He also created earth, vegeta- 
bles, and brute beasts ; but as standing to the human family, in a 
more endearing and paternal spiritual relation, like that which 
exists between father and son. Paul argues from these premises, 
to prove to the men of Athens, that " we ought not to think that 
the Godhead is like unto gold or silver, or stone, graven by art 
and man's device."!" For how could this be, since " we are the 
OFFSPRING of God," and made in His image 7 Let us judge of 
the father by the child. If the child be like the father, is not 
the father, also, in that respect, like the child? As men, there- 
fore, are endowed with faculties of reason, volition, and spiritual 
sensibility, how can we doubt, that the eternal Father of our 



* Isaiah xlviii. 9, 13. f Acts xx. 28 ; Col. i. 20. J Isai. viii. 20. 

§ Gen. i. 2T. II Isaiah kui. 16 ; Matt- vi- 9-15. H Acts xvii. 22-31. 



32 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 

spirits, ill whose likeness we are made, is also Himself an intelli- 
gent essence, having powers or attributes of reason, will, and sen- 
sibility. 

See what the Scriptures say of the birth of Seth : " And Adam 
lived a hundred and thirty years, and begat a son, in his own like- 
ness, after his image, and called his name Seth."* Compare this 
with what the Lord informs us of the original creation of Adam, 
(Gen. i. 26, 27,) and you will perceive that man is, indeed, born to 
the highest of all privileges — an affiliation into the family of God, 
our Father. However, there is this difference between our 
" image" or <« likeness,^^ to our natural parent and to our hea- 
venly Parent, that, although our faculties, or attributes, so far as 
the image exists, are the same, in kind ; yet, in degree, we are 
separated only by finite intervals, in the former relation ; but, in 
the latter, by infinity. Still, a difference in the degree, or measure 
of the nature or kind, does not disprove the likeness of that nature 
or kind, so far as the image does extend. For, there is no absolute 
holiness, but the infinite holiness of God ; and yet, every devout 
son of God, who is transformed to the image of divine holiness, 
has a holiness, so far as it extends, of the same nature, or kind, as 
the holiness of God, although infinitely far off, in regard to degree 
or extent. A straight line, from a centre to a given point in a cir- 
cumference, however short it may be, passes, notwithstanding, over 
the same space ; or, in other words, so far as it goes, is of the same 
nature as another, but infinite straight line, drawn from the centre 
through that same point, but extended and continued beyond, in 
every direction, without limit. 

It may be answered, this divine likeness, of which you speak, 
is nothing but a likeness of the character of the reneived soul of a 
man, and not a likeness of its nature. My reply is, that such a 
likeness in the character, or attributes and actions of an agent, 
implies a corresponding likeness in the nature. What is holiness ? 
It is not merely doing certain outward actions. If I see a man fall 
down in the street, with apoplexy ; if I hasten to him, and recog- 
nize him to be my mortal enemy ; if, fearing he may recover from 
the apoplexy, I purpose to open an artery, with intent to kill him, 
but, in my hurry, I strike only a vein, which preserves his life ; 
here, if I dissemble and keep my motive to myself, I may be hailed 

* Gen. T. 3. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 33 

as the noble and virtuous preserver of an enemy ! But, in the sight 
of God, I am guilty of blood. Suppose a contrary case : I hasten 
to the unhappy man ; and, instead of an enemy, I behold a near 
and dear friend, for whom I would gladly sacrifice my own exist- 
ence. But, in my extreme agitation, even while he is recovering 
from the fit, in order to secure his safety, I open, not as I intended, 
a vein, but hl fatal artery ; am I a murderer? No; surely not. 
God, who reads the heart, passes judgment upon the secret thought ; 
for " out of the heart proceed evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, 
fornications, thefts, false witness, blasphemies : these are the things 
which defile a man."* Faith is living works, and works are living 
faith ; for as the cause proves the efiect, so does the effect prove 
the cause. Every body of works has its inward faith, as every 
living body of man has its inward soul. From all this, it is, to me, 
quite manifest that divine holiness consists, not merely in any out- 
ward action, but in an inward condition or state of spirit, proceed- 
ing from rational and voluntary faculties, accompanied, as must 
needs be, with sensibility or the capacity of perceiving and feeling. 
Therefore, a like character in the holiness, implies, also, so far as 
the likeness extends, a like character in the spirit, or " living soul" 
And, as our holiness, the more it resembles that of the Lord, in- 
creases the more in the energy which denotes the action of a 
rational, voluntary, and sensitive .spirit, we cannot suppose that the 
Spirit of God is destitute of those faculties and capacities, which 
are enlarged m us the more we approach and are conformed to the 
divine Original. 

This, as I apprehend, is the groundwork of the argument used 
by the Lord to the Jews, when they took up stones to stone Him, 
because, as they said, "that thou, being a man, maketh thyself 
Ood.^^t His reply, in my opinion, is founded on the argument 
which I have mentioned, as will be apparent, if we carry it out, in 
all its steps. For instance, He answers them, — " Is it not written 
in your law, I said ye are Gods?" or, in other words, "All of you 
are children of the Most High,^^X and made in the image of God. 
If, therefore, man be made with faculties and sensibilities like those 
of God, does it not follow that God has faculties and sensibilities 
like those of man ? And why, then, do you say that I blaspheme, 
because I assert that / am God, and only called the Son of God, 

* Matt. XV. 19, 20. t John x» 33. % Ps. Ixxxii. 6. 

5 



34 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 



because, this fleshly body, sanctified and sent into the world, as my 
visible tabernacle, or temple, for the salvation of man, was miracu- 
lously beo^otten and born of a virgin, by '•Hhe poiver of the High- 
est V^* If you believe not me, believe my loorks. Are not these 
works, which I do, the works of a God ? But, you do not believe 
me, because you have wholly lost a knowledge of my nature and 
character. If you knew God^ you would know me. And the very 
object of my coming is, that you may recover this lost and saving 
knowledge of God. 

But, over this stumbling-block the Jews fell ; and, what is 
astonishing, beyond all expression, the Gentiles, who were called in 
the place of unbelieving Israel ; the Gentiles, who, for so many 
centuries, have boasted their own faith, and abhorred the obstinacy 
of the outcast people ; even these same Gentiles have stumbled at 
that stumbling-stone and rock of offence. They have denied the 
Cross of God, and, instead of the Prince of Peace and Life, they 
have cried, " Not this man, but Barabbas." 

How sloio is the heart to believe all that the prophets have 
spoken /t The Jews rejected Christ, expressly on the ground that 
it was blasphemous to believe that a being, exhibiting the nature of 
a man, was the God of Abraham ; whereas, the authority of Abra- 
ham himself, might have taught them differently. For the Lord 
appeared to Abraham, in the plains of Mamre, in the likeness of a 
man ; and, as a man, He talked to him, and ate food.% Also, in 
other passages of the Hebrev/ Scriptures, the Lord assumed a 
human form, and is called Man.§ 

What is a man ? We ought to be under no difficulty in answer- 
ing this question ; for we are told in the Scriptures themselves, 
and we should remember that, in expounding the word of God, 
we must use or understand the terms, in the same sense as that in 
which they are employed by the inspired teachers. 

" And the Lord formed man of the dust of the ground^ and 
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a 
living soul.^^W Afterwards, the Lord says, "In the sweat of thy 
face shalt thou eat bread, till thou return unto the ground ; fox out 
of IT wast thou taken : for dust thou art^ and unto dust shalt thou 
return.^ Hence, then, it appears that there are two senses in which 

* Luke i 35; John ii. 19. f Luke xxiv. 25, $ Gen. xviii. 1-8; John viii. 56-58. 
§ Exod. xxxiii. 11; Josh. y. 13; Judges xiii. 10; Gen. xxxii. 24. l| Gen. ii. 17. 

nr Gen. iii. 19. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OP THE LORD. 35 

we are to understand the term, msin:— first, a certain organized 
form of dust or body, made after the manner of the body of Adam, 
and secondli/^ a rational, voUmtary, and sensitive spirit, made or 
created in the image or likeness of God, and called " a living 
soid,'^ dwellino^ in such a body. In this twofold sense, the whole 
human race, whether learned or unlearned, still speak of man. 
For we say, a man, viz. the fleshly body of man, gives up the ghost, 
or dies, and also, we say, a man is buried here, pointing to his 
grave, although it is not the spirit that is buried there, but only 
the body. 

If it be objected that the Lord does not use the appellation in 
a mere fleshly sense, because he says, " Let us make man, in 
our image, after our likeness ;"* and that He cannot speak thus 
merely of the body : then, I answer, that this, notwithstanding, 
does not preclude the idea that, by the term, man, the Lord denotes 
a living soul, having reason, will, and, of course, sensibility, such 
as His own^ united with a certain form of organized body, such 
as Adam's. For it is the union of such a spirit and body 
which makes what we commonly call man ; and, any rational, 
voluntary, and sensitive spirit, appearing in such a body, would be 
called by our name. As there is a divine image in man, there is, 
therefore, a human image in God : but, with this distinction, that 
in the Lord, there is no imperfection. All we are imperfect men ; 
but God, appearing in our form, would be the Holy One, or a per- 
fect man, without spot or blemish of any kind. 

However, it is my opinion that, in the texts which I have quoted, 
the word, man, is most undoubtedly applied, not only to the living 
union of soul and body, but also to the mere fleshly body of our 
common ancestor. For bear in mind, that the original quickening 
of man, by the Holy Spirit, is typical of our regeneration in Chist, or 
of the neii? man, by faith in God. For without faith, we are dead ; 
but by faith, we arise from the dead, and become a living soul. 
The mere creation, therefore, of our souls, is allegorized by death, 
or a dead fleshly body, having no life in itself, but " corrupt, accord- 
ing to deceitful lusts ;"t and the redemption, or new birth, is taught 
by the breathing of life into us, by our blessed Lord and Saviour. 
This understanding I obtain from a comparison of what Paul says 
in 1 Cor. xv. 45-49 ; Eph. iv. 22-24, and Col. iii. 9, 10 ; in con- 
nexion, also, with the lohole scope of the Gospel. For as born of 

* Gen. i. 26. t Eph. iv. 22. 



36 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 

the first Adam, we are in deaths or a state typified by the mere 
natural or fleshly body, which was the first creation of man. But 
this first man, Adam, is afterwards made a living soul, only by the 
Lord from heaven, or Christ, onr God, quickening him, by breath- 
ing into his nostrils, the breath of life. Thus we see, that, in 
scriptural, allegorical language, the whole family of man, compre- 
hending our first parents and all their descendants, forever, who 
are unrenewed in knowledge after the image of Christ, our life, 
are contained under the figure of the mere dead fleshly body of 
Adam ; called the old man. The flesh is a type of sin or death ; 
and the Almighty and Holy God, in his abundant and unspeakable 
goodness, became man, {that is, was made flesh,) and dwelt among 
us, " that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.^^* 

Neither is there, nor can there be salvation, in any other manner ; 
"for there is none other name, under heaven, given among men, 
whereby we m^ust be saved.^^t 

For how can any finite being behold infinity ? A created, ra- 
tional spirit, I presume, might see an uncreated, eternal spirit, after 
whose pattern or likeness it is made. But the mere seeing of that 
essence called spirit, is not sufiicient to enable us to judge whether 
it be a god or a demon, a lover of mankind or an enemy. We must 
behold it, not only in essence, but in its attributes, or its character 
and actions, of power, wisdom, and benevolence. And as these are 
without limit in the infinite Jehovah, therefore, the only way in 
which the Deity can be at all visible, in character or salvation, to 
any of his creatures, is, for the Lord to veil His perfections ; to put 
as it were, a boundary to them ; to exhibit them in some finite 
extent : but yet continually enlarging this revelation of Himself to 
our minds, as we approach nearer and more near to Him. How then, 
can any one, who denies Christ ever see God? Mistaken man ! 
Does he imagine that he can look upon the unbounded glory of 
Him, whose immensity is without beginning or end 7 There is 
no other possible way of salvation, but for the great God, in His 
wondrous and condescending goodness, to descend to man's weak" 
ness ; and by an exhibition of Himself, in conformity to laws, sub- 
ject to which we are created, to unfold or reveal his true nature, 
character, and actions, by such a connexion betiveen cause and 
effect, as will continually lift us up higher and more high, to His 

* 2 Cor. V. 21. t Acts iv. 12. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 37 

unsearchable fulness. This conformity to law, or connexion be- 
tween each advance and that which succeeds it, must never be 
broken ; else we fall and perish.* For how can a child compre- 
hend the higher operations in science, until he has obtained a 
knowledo^e of the simplest rules ? We begin at first principles, and 
proceed upward. And if at any time, the Lord should look upon 
us, with His all-searching eye, disjoined or separated from that holy 
form of divine presence, made amiable and lovely by our knowledge 
and faith in the saving laws by which He is pleased to uphold us 
in life and safety, we should shrink appalled with terror, and flee 
as from an angel of wrath.t Hence it is, that the Lord must unveil 
his glory or fulness, in connexion with certain laws, or a rule of 
increment. That He may be the God of all men, and since all 
men, in an unrenewed or carnal mind, are in deaths the Lord be- 
gins with an exhibition of Himself, as a babe ; a neiu-made man or 
child ; the first-born in His spiritual kingdom. Remember, now, 
that this babe, this holy child Jesus, is a type of the whole human 
family, renewed in spirit, by knowledge, after the image of Him 
who created us :t for the earthly or fleshly body of the Lord, is an 
emblem or figure of the^r^^ man^ Adam, and all his descendants ; 
but the living soul, within that body, is the Lord from heaven. 
In this manner it is, that God clothes Himself with His rational 
universe. All we are the body ; but God is the soul. There is 
but one Spirit, having life in Himself, and that Spirit is God ; there- 
fore, there is but one soul, or spirit, in the child Jesus, even " the 
mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace," § and 
*' Life ;"ll who alone hath immortality ]% and who is '' King of 
KINGS and Lord of lords."** No created spirit can, either 
singly or conjointly, be the soul or life of the body of Christ ; for 
we are all included under the type of the dead body or flesh ; and 
it was this very death which caused our heavenly Father himself, 
to descend from heaven and dwell among us.tt The Lord says, in 
Isaiah, Ixiii. 3, ^' I have trodden the wine-press, alone, and of the 
people^ there was none with me :" in other words, of all created 
souls, there was none with Him ; but His oion arm brought salva- 
tion. How can it be, that any created soul can be redeemed except 

* Matt. xxi. 44. f Exod. xiv. 19-24. % Col. iii. 10: 1 Cor. xii. 27. 

§ Isaiah ix. 6. || Acts iii. 15. IT Tim. vi. 16. 

** Rev. xix. 16. ft 1 Cor. xy. 22; Rom. iii. 23. 



38 THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 

by being a co-member with other created spirits of the body of God ? 
" For by one spirit we are all baptized into one hodyy* And in 
order that this divinity of our Saviour might be well understood, 
our Lord Himself, while the Phaiisees were gathered together, 
asked them, saying, " What think ye of Christ? Whose son is 
He?" They say unto Him, "The son of David." He saith unto 
them, ^^ How then doth David, in Spirit, call Him Lord, sayings 
' The Lord said unto my Lord, sit thou on my right hand, till I 
make thine enemies thy footstool.' If David then call Him Lord, 
hoto is He his soN?"t The answer, which the Pharisees were not 
able to render, is, that He was the son of David, because. He " was 
made of the seed of David, according to thefleshyi " That which 
is horn of the fleshy is fleshJ^^ But in "Spirit," he was and is 
the Lord of David, and of heaven, and of earth ; " the mighty 
God, and everlasting Father," by whom all things were made, 
and without whom there is neither life nor creation. 

Hear, now, the good tidings of great joy, to all people, proclaimed 
by the incarnation of our Lord. Thus it speaks, to you and to 
every one : I created you a finite being. I would have created 
you equal to myself, eternal and infinite ; but it was impossible that 
a creature, beginning to be, could be self-existent, and without 
limit, in an absolute sense. I did for you, therefore, all that was 
possible to be done, and all that I myself would have desired, 
should have been done for me, had I been in your place, and you in 
mine. I created you with faculties, in my own image, and loith 
power to be engrafted on myself so as to become one ivith God; 
and because the manner of accomplishing this would, itself, be a 
mystery, impenetrable to your infant mind, I purposely, at the 
beginning, created you in a two-fold form, or a union, consisting 
first of a dead body, formed of the dust of the ground, and secondly 
of a living spirit. 

This was done, that you mis^ht have perpetually, in your own 
persons, while on earth, a practical type of the manner of my opera- 
tion, in your new birth, or your junction with myself, and of the 
necessity of it. For you daily see the corrupt condition to which 
the body is reduced by the separation of the soul. While existing 
in union with the animating principle, your flesh is full of beauty 
and majesty ; but when the spirit departs, the body is a prey to cor- 

* 1 Cor. xii. 13, t Matt. xxii. 41-45. t Rom. i. iii^ Acts ii. 30. § John iii. 6. 



THE KNOWLEDGE OF THE LORD. 39 

ruption, and food for worms ; dust it is, and it returns to its parent 
dust. Thus formed, I set before you the way of life, and urged 
you, by tlie tenderest considerations to pursue it, and the way of 
death, also, I explained in fearful terrors ; for I knew that it would 
tempt you by its deceitful allurements and false promise of good. 
Holiness is the act of a rational and vohmtary intelligence, and 
must proceed from a free choice. Yet was all this preparatory to 
my great salvation. For even the whole of that beautiful, natural 
economy and subsequent Mosaic dispensation, under which I 
placed, and so long continued you, were only obscurity and mere 
shadows, compared with the wonderful revelation I was about to 
make. Through them, I had been only rearing and educating 
you, to bring ^ou to a fit state to receive my actual presence, in its 
infant form. Not suddenly can the mind of man behold any man- 
ifestation of the Godhead. What would yield joy and life, in one 
condition of the world, would bring darkness and destruction 
in another. This is the case in disclosures in natural science, 
which is founded on a knowledge of the material works of the 
Deity, and much more is it the case in spiritual science, which 
discloses and reveals the nature and character of the supreme 
Jehovah. Therefore, at the very earliest moment, in the history 
of man, when the people were prepared to receive their Lord, 
I descended from heaven, and dwelt, as in a temple, in a 
fleshly body, begotten by the power of the Highest and bora 
of a virgin, and therefore called the Son of God ! See now 
the man Jesus, the last or new Adam ! As already stated, even 
Omnipotence could not create an z/.7zcreated, or self existent eternal 
being, without limit of any kind. Therefore, from necessity, the 
first Adam, or man, " was made subject to vanity^'''* represented 
and allegorized by the dust of the ground. But the second Adam 
is a new man, even the Lord God from heaven^ the infinite and 
eternal Spirit, who takes upon Himself that same dead body of 
flesh, the first Adam, brings it to life, delivers it from the bondage 
of corruption, and ascends with it to the mansions of eternal rest, 
there to dwell with it in the glorious liberty of the children of 
God. For the mighty Father was made or clothed with flesh, 
or with a body like ours, and was born of a virgin, in the relation 
of a Son to himself, and subject, in all respects whatever, to the 
same law which He has ordained for the whole family of man. 

* Rom. viii. 20. 



40 THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 

And as the body and soul, by union, are called one man, so by 
union with God, through faith in Christ, we become one with the 
eternal Godhead, and sit on the same throne with the Spirit of 
God, as His own. spiritual body, prefigured by His earthly body, 
in which he walked in the streets of Jerusalem ! What a destiny 
is this : high, splendid, and beyond all thought, majestic and full 
of unspeakable glory. Man ! man ! do you hear that earnest and 
entreating call, " come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy 
laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and 
learn of me ; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find 
rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is 
light."* Can you hear and refuse the gracious offer, rejecting the 
Prince of Life and Peace, the God of Love, who, with Himself, 
freely gives you His whole created universe, and tenderly pleads 
with you to come noiv, at this day, and enter into the joy of the 
Lord ; for without, are the dead carcasses of the slain, whose worm 
dieth not, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be 
an abhorring unto all flesh !t 



CHAPTER IV. 



THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 



God is one, not three. " Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, is 
one Lord.''^t 

God was worshipped as one, and one only, by the Jews, the Apos- 
tles, and the primitive Christian s.§ 

Read attentively the beginning of the 9th chapter of the Acts of 
the Apostles, narrating the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, including 
also, the vision of Ananias, commanding him to go to Saul ; com- 
pare this with what Paul says in 1 Cor. x. 4, and you can have no 
manner of doubt that Paul in worshipping Christ, knew that he 
was worshipping none other than the one God of Abraham, of 
Isaac, and of Jacob. Paul himself says so, in Acts xxiv. 14 : " but 

* Matt. xi. 28-30. f Isaiah Irvi. 24. t Deut. vi. 4. § Rom. iii. 30; Gal. iii. 20. 



THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 41 

this I confess unto thee, that after the way, which they call heresy^ 
so worship I the God of my fathers^ believing all things which 
are written in the law and the Prophets." This confession, which 
was made before Felix, is dated in the notes to the Bible, which I 
have before me, A. D. 60. Thomas, long prior to this, had wor- 
shipped our Saviour, saying " my Lord and my God."* From 
Pliny's letterto the Emperor Trajan, written, A. D. 107, we learn 
that the Christians, at that period^ still continued the worship of 
Christ as God. All this testimony is clear and indubitable. And 
equally certain is it, that neither did the Evangelists, the Apostles, 
nor any of the primitive Christians believe God to be three. 

The true doctrine taught in the Bible is this : that God is one, infi- 
nite, eternal, and in all his fulness, incomprehensible to man. But 
that this one God has revealed Himself in the form of a man, taking 
mir body upon His spirit ; and so occupying a distinct relation, 
as a iSon to Himself called the Son of God, for the reason given 
by the angel to Mary, because His body was miraculously born 
of a virgin, by the power of the Highest.^ I name this a distinct 
relation, both to man and God ; for a relation means, " a connexion 
between things ;"J and this incarnation of our God, is that visible 
connexion between God and man, or mediation, whereby the Lord 
will forever exhibit to us increasing displays of His own nature and 
glory. " Now a mediator is not a mediator of one it neither is this 
a mediation of one : for it connects the two extremes, God and 
MAN, '' but God is one." We, individually, are many ; although, 
in this mediation we are also comprehended in one, viz : '' one 
BODY." Christ, therefore, is the mediator, or connecting tie, between 
God and man, and in this relation He sustains the double charac- 
ter of God and man ; His spirit being God, and His body being a 
fleshly allegory or an impersonation of the whole family of man, 
typical of our souls, living by faith in God. Upon this subject, 
however, I have spoken at large, in my former chapter. 

There is another name given in the Scriptures to our Lord, to 
which also, I deem it necessary to call attention, " the Holy Ghost," 
or "the Spirit of Truth." § Our Lord, in speaking of the Spirit of 
Truth, or " the Comforter," applies the appellation sometimes to 



* John XX'. 28. t Luke i. 35, | Webster's Dictionary, « relation: 

§ Gal- iii. 20. || John xiv. 17. 



42 THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 

Himself, and sometimes to Himself and the Father ; but in either 
case He means the same thing, viz : the one God ; for He and 
His Father are one. This relation of God, as the Comforter, 
proceeds from the right knowledge of God, the Father, as revealed 
in His relation as the Saviour of man, and produces the effect of 
sanctification upon our hearts. Christ, as I have said, applies the 
name to Himself, for He says, " I will not have you comfortless, I 
will come to you,"* and sometimes to Hiraself and the Father ; 
for He adds, " if a man love me, he will^keep my words, and my 
Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our 
abode within him."t Wherefore the three terms, the Father, 
Son, and Holy Ghost, are only three names of the one and 
SAME God, denoting the three divine relations which our Lord 
sustains as the infinite Jehovah who created us, and whose 
fulness being without limit, is incomprehensible ; as the Saviour, 
in which relation He veiled His perfections and assumed a finite 
form, clothed with our body, as the Son of man and of God, and 
as the risen Saviour or Spirit of Truth, after He had fulfilled the 
law, bringing all things to our remembrance, and sanctifying 
us by the knowledge and judgment of God. 

These three relations are, also, shadowed under the Mosaic 
ordinances. For there was first, God the Father ; secondly, the 
High Priest with the " blood which He offered for Himself, and the 
errors of the people,"+ which is typical of Christ, the lamb of 
God; and thirdly, Christ again as the High Priest, who, by His 
own death, having entered into heaven, or the holiest of all, re- 
appears in His risen spirit, or as the Comforter, from the second 
veil, " without sin unto salvation !"§ 

At what time it was, that this doctrine of the unity of God, came 
to be extensively or generally corrupted by professing Christians, 
I am unable to say. There are many causes which preclude us 
from obtaining correct information of that and subsequent periods 
of the church. For not only were the mass of the people un- 
learned and unable to read and write, but copies of manuscripts 
were multiplied at great expense, and could be owned only by 
few persons. Besides the unsparing rage of bigotry and intoler- 
ance would manifest a no less destructive zeal against the writings 
and memorials of supposed heretics, than against their bodies, and 

* John xiv. 18. f John xiv. 23 t Heb. ix. 7- § Heb. ix. 28.. 



THE APuS'iACY OF THE GENTILES. 43 

would deface, mutilate, and bum the former as well as the latter. 
In addition to all this, the desolating barbarism of the Gothic 
conquerors, would crush from existence every relic of former 
learning or history, except what was preserved in the monasteries ; 
so that it needed no act of the monks to destroy the evidences of 
Christian truth, but only a want of care and faithful industry in 
secreting and defending them. In such a universal affliction, what 
inquirer shall declare the generations of the oppressed people and 
roi/al preisthood of the Lord, who, as their master, were " brought 
as a lamb to the slaughter," and like him, were " taken from prison 
and judgment" and " cut off out of the land of the living."* Doubt- 
less, the true church then existed in a persecuted and despised con- 
dition without/orm or comeliness^t in the eyes of carnal men, and 
she must have dwelt in the world as in a spiritual wilderness, 
nourished during the appointed times, by the hand of the Lord.l 
This we know, however, tliat wherever the faithful of the Lamb 
were, they believed and taught no other doctrines than those 
which are declared in the word of God : and all who were not 
built on this foundation were Anti-Christs. 

For the reasons which I have mentioned, there may be great 
difficulty in tracing the history of the spiritual Israel ; but there are 
many circumstances, which will enable us to come at some know- 
ledge of the progress of the opposite character : the man of sin. 

People are in the habit of imputing their transgressions, errors, 
miseries, and bondage, to tyrants and priests. Tyrants and priests, 
say they, have combined their efforts, with success, to prevent men 
from becoming enlightened, by seeking after truth ! And that such 
persons are the scourges of mankind, is unquestionable, as all his- . 
tory proves. But what are tyrants and priests but the workman- 
ship of the people ? When men love bondage rather than liberty, 
and a lie more than the truth ; when the heart of man has no virtue 
to cleave to his fellow-man ; no justice, valour, temperance, patriot- 
ism, humanity, nor faithfulness; when the aim of each one is to 
oppress and plunder, and to gratify vile passion and sensuality ; 
when the truth offends, and men place their chief good in filthy 
corruption and ignorance, then, all unheeded does wisdom cry 
aloud, and utter her warning : the righteous perish, but no one 
regards it ! In such a state of wickedness, the Lord visits the peo- 

* Isaiah liii. 7, 8. f Isaiah liii. 2. t Rev. xii. 14. 



44 



THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 



pie with the works of their own hearts ; and he sends them some 
fearful and bloody protector, to keep in sway, by a rod of terror, the 
more cruel and hateful beasts, which rao;e within them. Thus 
a nation, which will not have the Lord for their king, must he in 
bondage to tyrants. And they who will not, themselves, be 
^^ priests of God and of Christ,''^* by a careful and free inquiry of 
truth, and by a diligent exercise of all the faculties which our 
heavenly Father has bestowed, must be the victims of a corrupt 
and hireling clergy, who will see false visions, pronounce false 
judgment, and, although exalting and opposing themselves against 
all that is holy, will sit " in the temple of God"1i and usurp His 
name and attributes. 

We may, therefore, in some measure, trace the progress of the 
decline of the true priesthood of the Lord, by observing the rise 
and advancement of the false clergy; knoioing full well that only 
a blind people ivill be led by blind pastorsX 

By the " true priesthood^'' I do not mean any clerical character 
or gospel ministry, in the present accepted understanding of these 
phrases. Far from it ! By the word of Divine Truth, we are 
taught that all the righteous, who, by faith in Christ our God, 
know, love, and obey the Lord, are "kings and priests unto 
God;"§ they sit upon thrones^W and ^^ offer up spiritual sacri- 
fices ;"■![ they comprehend the two offices of Moses and AaroUy 
and are called a holy and royal priesthood.** The indi- 
viduals of this priesthood differ in degrees of glory, precisely as 
they differ in degrees of spiritual knowledge, love, and faithfulness ; 
in other words, as God has bestowed His gifts upon them : but 
though one star differs from another, in the degree of light, their 
light, so far as it extends, is the same in nature. Isaiah, in speak- 
ing, by prophecy, of the disciples of Christ, says : " Ye shall be 
named the priests of the Lord ; men shall call you the minis- 
ters of our God."tt All are kings and all are priests. The 
priesthood is not an outward establishment or ordination ; but it is 
inward and spiritual, and exists wherever knowledge, love, and 
faithfulness are combined, and noivhere else ; for it is impossible 
for blindness or ignorance to teach knowledge ; for hate to do the 
work of love ; or for corruption to minister in the kingdom of God : 

* Rer. XX. 6. f 2 Thess. ii. 4. t Jer. v. 31. § Rev. i. 5, 6. 

II Matt. xix. 28. IT 1 Pet. ii. 5-9. ♦* 1 Pet. ii. 5-9. ft Isai. Ixi. 6. 



THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 45 

"/or behold^ the kins^dom of God is within you* The Christ- 
ian's altar is an altar at which no man can minister, who is not 
^^ renewed in knowledge after the image of Him who created 
/m?i."t True Christians, viz : the kings and priests of God, will 
always know, or be able to judge those who come in the name of 
the Lord. False signs and miracles cannot deceive them ; for they 
have "the root of the matter" in themselves, and by the diligent 
and persevering use of all the faculties and talents committed to 
them, they can discern and trace whether any branch which is 
said to spring from it, does actually proceed from that foundation. 
It is free inquiry, alone, which can produce uniformity in Christian 
faith, doctrine, and works. Each one must think, observe, and 
judge. We cannot give skekels of silver by the year, and suits of 
apparel and victuals to a Levite, searching for a call, and say, 
" be unto me a father and a priest :"t Do you do my thinking and 
my judging for me, and settle my faith by creeds and councils. 
The instant that we thus separate an outiuard clergy, with outward 
tables and ordinances, to minister the spiritual bread and wine, 
in the kingdom of God, that instant we seal our destruction. Anti- 
Christ grows up, at first, from small beginnings, and with all 
deceivableness of unrighteousness, and pretence of humility, and 
godly zeal ; but it is not long before he confirms custom into 
authority, submission into bondage, and falsehood into divine 
commandment and revelation. Yet, alas, how prone is the carnal 
heart to love its slavery ! An Anti-Christ, whose teeth are swords 
and spears, destroying " peace from the earth," drenching the 
fields with blood, consuming cities with fire, and depopulating 
whole provinces : even such an Anti-Christ may advance himself 
to divine honors, and his ministers be called Christian fathers 
and stars of righteousness. § 

Gibbon, in his " Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire," 
(vol. 2, pages 102, et seq.) gives an account of the manner in 
which the Christian community fell from their original indepen- 

* Luke xvii. 21. t Col. iii. 10. % Judges xvii. 10. 

§ In " u4 Voice to the Jews" page 76, I adopted Paley's opinion, that " any form of 
Christiaiiiiy is better than no religion at all." This needs correction. Christ himself 
says, that the last state of a man, returning to sin, after having known the truth, is 
worse than the first. Matt. xii. 45. Yet, in one way, false forms of Christianity are 
better than no religion ; for they prepare mankind for a return to religion, at a subse> 
quent age. 



46 THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 

dence and equality. In regard to this author, I must say, that 
the benevolence which is apparent in his work ; his close observa- 
tion and strong judgment ; his fearless exposures of a false and 
corrupt hierarchy ; entitle him very greatly to our thanks. How- 
ever, something more is necessary to free the world from error and 
crime, than merely to pull down particular edifices of sin. We 
must not only destroy what is wrong, but, also, build up what is 
right, and he who, while he demolishes one refuge of oppression, 
permits the temple of truth to lie in ruins, betrays a want of cor- 
rectness in his own mind, which we must not the less condemn 
because we deplore it.* The statements of such a writer, on a 
subject connected with his prejudices and infidelity, are to be re- 
ceived with the utmost caution, and the benefit of this rule we 
must extend equally to the cause of Christianity itself, and to the 

* Gibbon speaks of " the divine sanction ivhich the apostle, (John,) had bestowed on the 
fundamental principle of the theology of Plato." 3 Gibbon's Decline and Fall, 11. What 
it was that Plato taught, I am not prepared to state with certainty, not having, at present, 
an opportunity of referring to his works. But even if Plato did teach some things, igno- 
rantly, about the " Logos," this did not hinder that the evangelist, afterwards, should de- 
Clare to Platonists and Gnostics, or both to Jews and Gentiles, that the same God who 
created all things, and who had, in the beginning, spoken His word unto the fathers, by the 
prophets, was, in the last days, made flesh, or dwelt among men in body, as a man, accord- 
ing to that same word of prophecy which had announced his coming. (Compare John i. 
1-14, with Hebrews i. 1-3.) Confident am I, that Plato is as far from the doctrine of John, 
as blindness is from light. There is a very great disposition, in infidel writers, to detract 
from the truths of Christianity, by introducing comparisons with some of the Greek phi- 
losophers. But yet, if all that is said about the extent of the knowledge or speculations of 
the Greeks be founded on fact, what does it prove 1 Socrates, the most enlightened of 
the heathens, was born four hundred and seventy years, and died four hundred years 
before Christ . But, one thousand years before his time, Moses, who was a worshipper 
of the ONE and only God, led out the Israelites from Egypt, and they became a great 
nation. Six hundred years before Socrates, lived David, and David was succeeded by his 
son Solomon, so famed for wisdom and riches, that foreign princes sent messengers to him, 
and courted his alliance. Only two hundred and five years before the death of Socrates, 
began the Babylonish captivity, which was terminated by Cyrus. And subsequently to 
that, the second temple was built, and Ezra, Nehemiah, and Malachi, all lived and per- 
formed their ministry, at the very time when Socrates himself was growing up into man- 
hood, and forming his opinions. Who then, can doubt that it was known, not only in 
Egypt, but, also, in Greece to the philosophers, that a nation had existed, and was still in 
being, who taught the worship of the one God *? That Socrates did not come to his the- 
ology by his own reason, is evident; for his own reason would then have brought him to 
see the folly of ordering a sacrifice to JEsculapius ; which he did, in his dying moments. A 
great truth, being communicated to us, brings us acquainted with many other truths flow, 
ing from it. The infidels, of the present day, reason of many things correctly, from the 
reflected light which they have derived from the Bible, And so I believe it was with 
many of the ancient philosophers, into whose minds a ray of divine light shone from 
Judah, though it was mixed with much darkness, in themselves. 



THE APOSTACT OP THE GENTILES. 47 

professing- clergy. Gibbon, I do not think, was an infidel, in the 
absolute sense of the term. The reproach seems to have been 
applied to him from like reasons with those which induced the 
heathen priests to charge Socrates with atheism. But still he was 
so far wrong as to make it necessary for us to test all that he says 
on the subject of religion, or its ministers, with very great delibera- 
tion. 

He informs us, — and in this respect, it is my opinion, that he 
accords fully with the Scriptures, — that presbyters and bishops 
were only appellations to distinguish the same order of persons : 
presbyter being used as expressive of their age or wisdom, and 
bishop as denoting their duty. But as the most perfect equality 
of freedom requires some order at meetings, for conducting public 
deliberations, and collecting and executing the sentiments and 
resolutions of an assembly, therefore, some one would, on occasions 
of this kind, be called upon to execute the duties of a presiding 
officer. As a means of guarding against frequent interruptions, by 
annual or occasional elections, the primitive Christians were in- 
duced to choose, for life, one of the wisest and most holy of the 
presbyters, to be their ecclesiastical governor. This governor then 
came to be called bishop, while the other presbyters retained their 
original common name. This system was adopted before the end 
of the FIRST century, and was strongly recommended by the 
advantages which, in that state of society and of public affairs, 
attended it. But towards the close of the second century, pro- 
vincial synods began to operate, which were composed of all these 
ecclesiastical governors, or J3ishops, in the province ; assisted by 
the advice of a few distinguished presbyters, and attended by a 
listening multitude of the brethren.* In these provincial synods, 
some one bishop, officially called primate or metropolitan, finally 
usurped a power over his brother bishops, like that which the 
same bishops had, in their turn, obtained above their fellow pres- 
byters, and on the same principle as the presbyters had also 
encroached upon the spiritual priesthood of the flock. In the 
THIRD century, this evil was still more extended and enlarged ; 
for by this time the usurpation was everywhere established, and 
looked upon as of divine appointment. Thus, imperceptibly, did 

* It is unnecessary for me to repeat that I am here adopting the sentiments, and, in some 
passages, the words of Gibbon. 



48 THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES; 

carnal men of sin wax " great even to the host of heaven/'* and 
were worshipped as "the vicegerents of Christ, the successors of 
the apostles, and the mystic substitutes of the high priest of the 
Mosaic law." The laity, or common herd — poor souls !— in the 
visible church, were then no longer a holy and royal priesthood ; 
but were glad to receive the bread of supposed life, from the bloody 
hands of the murderers of the Lord ; to hear, with blind submis- 
sion, and to come under bondage to tyrants, more fell than all the 
envenomed malice which had ever before held sway in the world. 

In such a state of Gentile apostacy was it, that Constantine, the 
first Christian emperor and defender of the faith, undertook the 
glorious refoxmation of the church of Christ ! ! He espoused the 
church to himself. Peaceably was he permitted to enter upon the 
fattest places of this usurped province in the kingdom of God, and 
to scatter among his lord-bishops and archbishops, the pjey, the 
spoil, and the riches.t Peaceably, did I say? Nay, with rejoicing 
was his impious hand hailed, as bringing deliverance and salva- 
tion. The Lord is called "the fountain of living waters ;"+ and we 
are invited to come to these waters, and drink :"§ but in the time of 
Constantine, the hearts of the people were smitten with the plague 
of BLOOD ; the Scriptures of life became blood to them, throughout 
all the land, and men could not drink of their water. II JSo they 
digged round about, " and heioed them out cisterns, broken cis- 
terns, that can hold no ivater,^^^ in the decrees of councils and 
the edicts of emperors. 

It is not my intent to dwell at large upon the confusion of lan- 
guages which prevailed in this Babel. ' It is sufficient to state, that 
the controversies of the Arians and Athanasians ; the Tritheists and 
Sabellians ; the Homo-ousions and Homoi-ousions ; the fierce and 
implable discords upon all questions relating to the nature of the 
Deity, the Lord Christ, and the Holy Spirit, and the utter abhor- 
rence with which the " blasphemous^^ doctrine, as it was called, of 
the Cross of God, was received ; all these denote that by far the 
greater portion of professing Christians had lost a knowledge of the 
everlasting Father, who had purchased his church loith his own 
blood. In these contentions, we see, on the part of some few, who 
were stigmatized as heretics, many gleams of welcome truth ; but 

* Dan. viii. 10. f Dan. xi. 24. t Jer. ii. 13. 

§ Isai. Ir. 1. Ii Exod. vii. 20-24, ^ Jer. ii. 13. 



THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 49 

SO far as the record of them has been preserved in the church his- 
tories which I have read, no one seems to have acknowledged 
Ciirist, wholly, as the one and sole God. Yet it is highly proba- 
ble that the tenets of several — as for example, the Patripassians — 
have been misrepresented. For certainly, on the particular doc- 
trine which bestowed upon them the honor of this name, they were 
orthodox, and spoke only the language of Scripture, and perhaps 
other views which are attributed to them, some of which seem to 
assert that Christ had also a created soul, as a man, were the 
conclusions of their adversaries, and not their own sentiments. We 
have, that I know of, no memorial of them, except such as is con- 
tained in the writings of the party hostile to them, and the present 
times furnish us with specimens of the little candor which can be 
expected in church controversy. At a subsequent period, Pelagius 
was also condemned as a heretic, for preaching some of the great 
truths of nature and revelation. What his other doctrines were, 
especially that all-important one concerning the godhead of Christ, 
I do not find sufficiently stated ; but if Pelagius were right upon 
that, I see nothing to censure, but much to approve in his belief, 
that the Lord has addressed Himself to the faculties of a creature, 
framed with power, as the gift of God, to yield obedience to His 
requirements, and that not to obey, is to be guilty of wilful sin. 

But whatever were the real tenets of any of these men, and 
whether the dominant sect have transmitted to us correct remains 
of them, or not, it is abundantly manifest, that during all this fearful 
period, the great mass of the professing church had crucified anew 
the Prince of Life and of Peace, and had parted or divided his doc- 
trines, or " garments among themJ^ The vision of the mis-called 
ORTHODOX party had become '-as the words of a book that is 
sealedj^* a ^^ mystery Babylon,''^ and the religion of the meek 
Jesus was converted into the tocsin of war, and His baptism into 
the baptism of demonism. 

Under this plague of blood, the outward church continued for a 
long time, not repenting of their sins. Through many visitations 
did they pass, and remained obstinate. Unclean spirits, like frogs 
lice, and flies, with their hermits, monks, flagellants, priests, and 
other teachers of Satan, went out from the mouth of this false form 
of CoNSTANTiNE Christianity, working miracles, and filling, and 

* Isaiah xxix. 11 



50 THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES- 

corrupting the land with vain glory, iniquity, and folly. A grievous 
murrain came upon the souls of men ; the ashes of their sacrifices 
were an abomination to God, and became hoils breaking forth with 
blains upon man and beast, and the gracious rain of divine grace 
is now frozen into hail by the coldness of man's unbelief, and falls 
and smites every herb and breaks every tree of Christian charity, 
and is accompanied with the fires and the thunders of a restless 
conscience."^ Goths and Vandals, as armies of locusts^ " covered 
the face of the whole earth, so that the land was darkened :"t but 
the people yet turned a deaf ear to all the chastisements of the 
Lord, who was pouring out upon them the vials of His wrath, 
containing the plagues of their own misdeeds. At length came the 
plague of darkness^ and papal Rome built up her power. This 
darkness was another ^^ glorious reformation f very glorious, 
indeed, as it was thought, to the parties concerned in it. For now 
the Cassars no longer existed in the west, but Goths and Arabs, on 
either side, threatened the destruction of the church ; when, be- 
hold, those pious saints, Pepin and Charlemagne, magnanimously 
condescended, in their turn, to become defenders of the faith, and 
protectors of the woman. She made a marriage with them, as she 
had before with Constantine. With Constantine, she had received 
the dowry of old heathen idolatry and philosophy : with Pepin and 
Charlemagne, her gifts were Gothic superstition and Gothic igno- 
rance. For many ages, the world saw not one another with the 
eye of understanding ; but the blackness of darkness covered every 
mind ; neither rose any from his place.t 

Say now, ye who freely seek for the truth, and search for it as 
for hidden treasure, what plague was it which succeeded the plague 
of darkness ? Moses said to the fathers, <'A prophet shall the Lord 
your God raise up unto you, of your brethren, like unto meP 
Christ has been and is coming to the Gentiles^ as Moses went to 
Pharaoh, with his plagues, to lead forth His spirtual Israel. 
Did not DEATH succeed darkness 1 How, then, can you hesitate 
about the true nature of that other spiritual condition of Egypt — 
that other glorious reformation, which arose when one of the heads 
of the beast was, " as it were, wounded to death, and his deadly 
wound was healed, and all the world wondered after the beast." § 
The death of the beast would have been life to the church, but the 

* Exod. cht. viii. and i.\. t Exod. x. 15 t Exod. x. 22, 23. § Rev. xiii. 3. 



THE APOSTACY OP THE GENTILES. 51 

life of the beast was death. Search through all the Scriptures, and 
see whether a single instance is recorded, where the plague of 
darkness is inflicted upon an impenitent people, which is not fol- 
lowed, in all instajiceSj by the plague o( death, and afterward "the 
Redeemer shall come to Zion, and unto them that turn from trans- 
gression in Jacob."* 

Let no one be deceived. Without Christ we are nothing. There 
is no religion that is not built on a right knowledge of God. 
" This is life eternal, that they might know thee, the only true 
God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent."t Thus our Lord Him- 
self speaks, and John, in applying the text, says, " and we know 
that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding 
that we may know Him that is true, and we are in Him that is 
true, even in His JSon, Jesus Christ. This is the true God and 
ETERNAL LIFE."! Christ is our life and salvation. We cannot 
too much insist upon this ; it is the only corner stone and founda- 
tion of hope. They who enter not in by the door of Christ are 
thieves and robbers ;§ and whatever appearance they may have 
outioardly, of being shepherds, they come but "to steal, and to kill, 
and to destroy." II It is a mistaken notion to suppose that they have 
integrity and benevolence. The Scriptures, which declare the 
origin and tendencies of all our thoughts, intents, and secret mo- 
tives, pronounce the unrenewed heart to be dead in trespasses and 
sin : he who hates God rejects his word.^ Mankind are prone to 
judge of goodness and benevolence by false standards. You may 
see persons, of either sex, possessing what are said to be noble, 
generous dispositions and philanthropy, who owe their amiableness 
only to natural tempers ; for which they deserve no more credit 
than they do for the complexion of their faces. Warriors of that 
character may die on the field of battle, brave, generous hearted, 
who, in advancing their own fame, or the honor of their nation, 
having immolated thousands to a false ambition and glory, breathe 
their last in the arms of victory, rejoicing in the thought of im- 
mortality. Men and women, with these traits, may be found 
every where, obeying the impulse of a depraved mind. " And this 
is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men 

* Isia. lix. 20, t John xvii. 3. %! John v. 20; John xvi. 1-3. 

§ John X. 1. II Jon x. 10. IT John viii. 42-47. 



62 THE APOSTACY OP THE GENTILES. 

loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were 
EVIL."* As there is none righteous but one, and that is God ; so 
no man is righteous or good wlio is not, by faith in God, engrafted 
upon His righteousness^ walking in the light of the knowledge of 
of God. By any other course we oppose the righteousness of 
God. If our path be not parallel to the footsteps of our Redeemer, 
we cross or militate against His holy will; we, ourselves, 
should see the divergency, if our eyes were impartial, at least, after 
the line of conduct had been traced, in its progress, to some extent ; 
but the Lord perceives it at once^ and, therefore, passes condemna- 
tion on it at once. Without faith in God, we are in death and 
HELL, and such was the spiritual condition of the supposed re- 
formers of the sixteenth century : and such is now, even to this 
day, the condition of the very churches which profess the name 
of Christ. 

Ask yourself, in what essential principle did Luther diifer from 
the tri-theist Athanasius, who also denied the cross of God, our 
Saviour ? Was Melancthon more orthodox than Eusebius, of 
Cesarea; or the bloody Calvin, than Donatus, the great? The 
princes of Germany, and the Henrys and Elizabeths of England, 
took the place of Constantine, in the fourth century, and of Pepin 
and Charlemagne, in the seventh ; and as regards the difference in 
the light of the churches, in these three epochs, it was the differ- 
ence in the light of philosophy and learning. In Constan tine's 
time, barbarism was fast hastening upon the world ; in Charle- 
magne's time it had come ; but in Luther's day learning jiad 
revived, printing was known, the Bible was translated and put 
into the1 hands of multitudes, and the arts and sciences were 
making rapid advances. Yet with all these immense aids and 
incentives to free inquiry, what was the mighty result ? Why, 
forsooth, with the Bible before them and open, these great reform- 
ers cleansed the outside of the cup from many of the excesses and 
extortions of the dark ages, but left within it all the corruption 
and heresy of the prior reign of blood. The very light that was 
in them was darkness ; how great then that darkness !t As re- 
formed by these persons, the churches still reject our only God and 
Saviour, the Lord Christ Jesus, who purchased His church with 
His own blood and sufferings. All the usurped privileges and 

* John iii. 19. t Matt. vi. 23. 



THE APOSTACY OF THE GENTILES. 53 

authority of the clergy, as distinguished from the laity, were and 
are retained ; and no man may minister at the altar of Christ save 
he that has " the mark or the name of the beast, or the number of his 
name."* Christ instituted a spiritual priesthood, making all kings 
and priests, who believe on His name ; and bidding them freely 
buy and give the bread of life without money and without price ; 
but Anti-Christ forbids this to he done, and has transferred the 
Kingdom of God to throned Herods and Cesars, boys and girls, 
men and women, of proud and depraved hearts and corrupt hands ; 
and thus the very murderers of Christ are the vice-gerents of God, 
and the dispensers of His grace ; His high priests. They displaced 
one pope to put up many. For not only are the monarchs — popes, 
but each man of this usurping clergy, who has arrogated to 
himself an exclusive peculiar right, belonging alike to all the kings 
and priests of God, in Christ, is a pope or Anti-Christ, containing 
within himself ^^ an image^^ or likeness to the papal beast, at 
Rome ;t against which they are directing their weapons. 

The supposed wealth of this new beast, or body of death, which 
rose up out of the earth, when the church of Rome received its 
wound, is vast, and its miracles astonishing. In fancied spiritual 
knowledge they transcend all former ages: they are wiser than 
Daniel ; and are become rich with all abundance, and increased 
with goods, and have need of nothing. They know not that they 
are wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked, and 
that they have none whatever of the gold tried in the fire, that 
they might be rich. " King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the 
earth for riches and wisdom."! '' Now the weight of gold that 
came to Solomon in one year was six hundred, three score and 
six talents of goldJ^h The Lord, in prophecying against Tyre, 
says, " thy heart is lifted up, and thou hast said I am a God^ I sit 
in the seat of God, in the midst of the seas ; yet thou art a man, 
and not God, though thou set thy heart as the heart of God." II The 
Lord speaks of her wisdom and understanding, " thou sealest up 

» Rev. xiii. 17. f Rev. xiii. 15. % 1 Kings x. 23. 

§ Kings X. 14. Clark, in his commentaries on this text, estimates this yearly income, 
in pounds sterling, at £4,683,675 12s, ^d, I do not believe that the new beast, which 
arose at the reformation, is applied to any one of the reformed churches in particular, but is 
co-extensive with the whole new spiritual dynasty then formed, or state of religion. But in 
external condition, how well would the name of the beast in Rev. xiii. 18, suit the church 
of England, and its revenues. 

II Ezek. xxviii. 2. 



54 THE APOSTACY OP THE GENTILES. 

the sum full of wisdom and perfect in beauty ;"* yet. He says, '' I 
will bring thee to ashes upon the earthj in the sight of all them 
that behold thee." 

Such is the mark, and the number of the name, of that new form 
of Gentile apostacy, which sprung up from the earth, under the 
influence of revived Platonism and Aristotelianism, modern arts 
and science, and increased commerce and civilization. The world 
became in that state which is spoken of by the prophet, when he 
denounced judgment against the " scornful men," who ruled the 
people in Jerusalem : " ye have said, we have made a covenant 
with deaths and with hell are we at agreement ; when the over- 
flowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto us ; for 
we have made lies our refuge, and under falsehood have we hid 
ourselves."! They cried peace, peace, when there was no peace, but 
a destruction determined against them. And, most wonderful ! in 
this same condition of death and hell, all Christendom remains to 
the present moment, and Barabbas is received and worshipped 
instead of the Lord of glory. 

It is this mystery of iniquity which the second advent of the 
Lord, will destroy by the brightness of the truths which accom- 
pany His presence,+ '' and so all Israel shall be saved, as it is 
written, there shall come out of Sion the deliverer, and shall turn 
away ungodliness from Jacob. ''§ Now shall be heard a great cry 
and lamentation, /or death is in every house.W Israel will go forth 
from bondage rejoicing, and a great multitude of all nations and 
tongues, and they shall offer to the Lord pure and spiritual sacri- 
fices, and the man of sin shall be destroyed ; for the great day of the 
wrath of the Lord is come, and who shall be able to stand.lF 

» Ezek. xxviii. 12. f Isaih xxviii. 14-22. % 2 Thess. ii. 8. 

§ Rom. xi. 26; Rev. vii. 1-8. || Exod. xii. 29-33. IT Rev. vi. 17. 



55 
CHAPTER V. 

THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 



Christains, by which term I mean all who are united to the 
Lord by a hving faith, as His spiritual body, typified by His fleshly 
body, are called the sons of God.* As sons, Christians are admitted 
into the holiest of holies with their Father ; and are informed both 
of His nature and character, and of His purposes and decrees.t To 
those who are without, and who stand in the condition of servants, 
these things are unknown and mysteries. But a mystery revealed, 
ceases to be a mystery ; for a revelation is a lifting up of the veil 
to make known that which was before unknown. Thus Paul 
says the veil was upon Moses ; but the veil " is done away in 
Christ."]: And, therefore, also it is, that Christians are said to enter 
xoithin the veil : or into the secret apartment or council chamber 
of God, their Father. 

Hence we may see the propriety of the expressions within and 
without the veil. Without are the servants, withiji are the 
children. To those without, the words of God are a mystery, and 
all things are done in parables ;"§ seeing, they perceive not, and 
hearing they do not understand, and for this reason they are called 
<* MYSTERY, Babylon the great, the mother of harlots, and abomina- 
tions of the earth." II Far different is the condition of those loithin 
the veil. For to them Christ says, '' unto you it is given to know 
the mystery of the kingdom of God."1F And it is by this knowledge 
that they are sanctified ; as our Lord prays, " sanctify them through 
thy truth ; thy word is truth."** In this sense, also, Peter is to be 
understood, when he says, '^- grace and peace be multiplied unto 
you, through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus, our Lord ; 
according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that 
pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that 
hath called us to glory and virtue."tt A convincing illustration of 
the necessity of this knowledge is seen in what our Saviour de- 
clares to His disciples, in order that they might be prepared for 

* John i. 12. t Heb. x. 19; John xv. 15. % 2Coi. iii. 14. § Mark iv. 11. 

II Rev. xvii. 5. IT Markir. 11, ** Johnxvii. 17. ft 2 Peter i. 2,3. 



66 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

iho persecutions which should attend them ; " they shall put you 
out of the synagogues ; yea, the time cometh that whosever killeth 
you will think that he doeth God service, and these things will 
they do unto you. because they have not known the Father nor 
meP* 

Inasmuch as those ivithout are blind, we should cease our 
astonishment that they boast of their unrevealed mysteries ; give 
us mysteries^ say they ; we delight in unintelligible mysteries, we 
believe because we cannot understand. They hug their fetters. 
When Zedekiah was taken captive to Babylon his eyes were put 
out, so that he saw not the land, though he died there,! and thus 
it is with these lovers of mystery ; they see not the chain of their 
bondage. They are taken in the snares of their own unbelief. As 
they are not admitted into the secret place of the Lord, and know 
nothing of His counsels, they cannot, even lohen the sword comes, 
perceive it with the eye of understanding. They are always 
divining false causes for their calamities, and rejoicing in a sup- 
posed dawning morn of millennial day, when they are yet in mid- 
night. How extatic, in their opinion, is the undefining fervor of a 
worship without meaning, a devout adoration of mere words ; the 
offering up of their devotions " to the unknown God." Him whom 
they ignorantly worship, they wish not should be declared to them, 
and being drunken with the strong drink of their own imaginations, 
they turn with distaste from the new wine of simple truth. 

From the relation of sonship in which believers stand to God, it 
is quite manifest, that the government of God, in His household, is 
paternal, and that He conducts Himself to His family, in all 
respects, as a wise and holy Father. This will help us to under- 
stand the atonement of Christ. A father is bereaved of his son, 
who is prodigal and departs from him, and wastes his patrimony 
in pursuits destructive and miserable. Would the parent care 
less for his son, than he would for a sheep which had strayed 
away, or a piece of silver which was lost ? Be assured that his 
heart will yearn for the outcast, and that he will leave no means 
untried to recover and restore him. But the difficulty is, that his 
son has left him under a mistaken notion that the father is cruel, 
severe, and exacting; that he demands returns where he has 
bestowed no affection, and that the pleasure which was in vain 

* John xvi. 2, 3. t Ezek. xii. 13. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 57 

sought at home, is to be found abroad. What way, therefore, can 
the father take, but to send some trusty messenger, that he may 
secretly watch over his wandering boy, protect him from injury, 
guide him to knowledge, and avail himself of the first opportunity 
to awaken him to repentance and a return of affection ? At length, 
under the hard service of his own unappeaseable and evil pas- 
sions, the youth is brought to the last extremity of want and suf- 
fering. Hungering and thirsting, he turns, in recollection, to the 
home which he had forsaken. Ah ! " how many hired servants of 
my father's have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with 
hunger." This thought instils new hope and life into him. He 
arises and goes to his father. Now is the happy moment for the 
delighted parent ! Afar off his father saw him, knew him, and 
hastens, and runs, and falls on his neck, and kisses him. Father, 
exclaims the penitent, I have sinned against heaven, and in thy 
sight, and am no more worthy to be called thy son. But the father 
says to his servants, *' bring forth the best robe and put it on him, 
and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet, and bring hither 
the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry ; for this, my 
son, was dead and is alive again, he was lost and is found." 

Powerful as our Saviour's* parable of the prodigal son is, to 
portray the natural love of an earthly parent, it is insufficient, as 
all types or language must be, to represent the inexhaustible 
fulness of love in Him whose perfection is without limit. Behold, 
everywhere, the instincts and strivings of humanity and affection, 
even in our fallen race. See that mother ! That tender babe in 
her arms, fevered and pining with disease and want, is exhausting 
the fountains of her life, and she feeds it, as it were, with her blood. 
" Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have 
compassion on the son of her own womb ? Yea, they may forget ; 
yet, (says the Lord,) will I not forget thee ; behold I have en- 
graven THEE upon THE PALMS OF MY HANDS !"t All the love 

that ever was felt by men, by saints, by angels, all combined^ 
would be but a feeble impulse compared with the love of Christ, 
which passe th knowledge. t 

Therefore, when men depart from the house of God, or when, 
never having known God, they remain absent from Him, and will 
not come at His call, He does, indeed, send messengers to them, not 

* Luke xy. 22-24. I Isaiah xiix. 15, 16. t Eph. iii. 19. 

8 



58 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

one, but many — all His providences — to gather them in, from the 
broad road of evil, and to do them all the good which is possible, in 
their state of unbelief and wilful transgression. But He is not con- 
tent merely with sending messengers. He Himself takes on Him- 
self the form of a servant, and eis a man laden with sorrows and 
acquainted with griefs, He goes to seek and to save them that are 
lost. Despised, rejected, spit upon, He does not smite them with 
the thunder of His arm. Oh, no ! Only love can slay enmity. 
The man who conquers evil by evil, perishes in his own victory. 
But look now, how the God of all the earth draws His rebellious 
children to Him ! He dies upon the cross, condemned as a male- 
factor. Who could conceive such love, such patience, such meek- 
ness, such gentleness, goodness, and long-suffering ! It is the sight 
of these that disarms hate. We are the workmanship of God, and 
our Lord has so formed us, that the cords of love, and only the 
cords of love, shall finally prevail against the gates of hell. A 
voice issues from the blood of our slain Father, speaking good 
things. Little children, you hate me, because you know me not. 
Think better of me than to suppose I am that cruel Being whom 
your imaginations have represented. For what is done, I make no 
threat of vengeance. Alas ! your own deeds will execute their own 
punishment, and unless you hasten to depart from them, will con- 
sume you by a fire unquenchable and all-devouring. What joy 
have you ever had in wickedness ; what joy that left not its sting 
behind it, and which festered in your heart ? By a law of eternal 
necessity, vice and misery are for ever yoked together. Behold my 
example, and judge of me by my works. Have I not all power to 
do as I would ? The earth was made by my hands, and I could 
upheave it, and strike it to atoms, if such were my pleasure ! The 
heavens I could tear from their orbits, and convulse my whole 
spiritual creation in agonies of pain ! But I do none of these 
things ; because, discerning between love and wrath, I see the 
beauty, the excellence, and the glory of holiness, which is love, 
and the deformity and pollution of the demon, hate. Consider the 
operation of these principles, in yourselves. That little and brief 
rest which seems to attend you, does it not proceed from love, 
which, though broken and in ruins, has still some existence in your 
bosoms? Your wretchedness, you must be conscious, results from 
violating this law, and your happiness is the fruit of keeping it, 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 59 

however imperfectly. Think, then, how great must be the joy of 
a heart which lives wholly in love ! And how perfect would be 
the condition of the world, were all the individuals united, as mem- 
bers of one harmonious, collective body, by the spirit of universal 
love ! To write this law upon your hearts ; to overcome your 
enmity by gentleness and goodness ; to dispel ignorance by know- 
ledge ; to conquer death, and wrest his terrors from him, and to 
exhibit my own nature, character, and manner of life, in such dis- 
tinctness and accuracy before you, that you may see me, face to 
face, and know your Father, I came down from heaven, and took 
that form which you rejected and slew. You know me now, for a 
feeling God, having tenderness and pity ; afflicted with you in all 
your griefs, and participating in all your joys. My nature is like 
yours ; for I formed you in my own image, and have wedded you 
to me. If there were not this congeniality between us, how could 
I expect your love ? For a rational, voluntary, and sensitive soul 
needs one like itself, to cling to in uniting tenderness. Forasmuch, 
therefore, as I saw proper, for benevolent and wise purposes, to 
clothe you with flesh and blood, I also took part of the same, that 
through death, I might destroy him who had the power of death, 
and by the manifest exhibition of myself, as touched by the feeling 
of your infirmities, might be a fitting high priest to cleanse and 
sanctify you. And fear not to come to me, although you have no 
gift to offer, which you may think worthy the God of heaven. For 
to remove that wrong impression on the minds of men, was also 
one" object of my coming. It is in the hearts of all finite beings, 
who see not the end from the beginning, to seek to satisfy divine 
justice, by some gift, or burnt offering ; some thousands of rams, 
or rivers of oil. Nay, they will give their first-born for their trans- 
gression, and slay the fruit of their body for the sins of their soul,* 
under the mistaken notion that God can be appeased by bribes, or 
the sacrifices of human or brute victims. But put far away from 
you that thought. Is not every beast of the forest already mine, 
and the cattle, and the fowls, and every beast of the field ? If I 
were hungry, would I tell you ? For the world is mine, and the 
fulness thereof t Offer, therefore, the calves of your lips^t viz : 
repentance, love, thanksgiving, and obedience to this example, 
which I have set you, in my own person. You can give me 

* Mic. vi. 6-9. t Psalm 1. 8-15. % Hos. xiv. 2. 



60 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

nothing ; but, on the contrary, behold, / give myself for you. 
See here, the Lamb of God slain for the sins of the whole world. 
By the very fact of your coming to this sacrifice, and acknowledg- 
ing it as your atonement, you confess, at once your own blood- 
guiltiness ; your own poverty, ruin, and nothingness ; the all-suffi- 
ciency of the free grace and redeeming love of your heavenly 
Father, and your pledge, by faith in him, to lead a new life, to 
put away the sins which pierced and crucified the God of heaven, 
and to follow your Lord, through life and in death. And, therefore 
it is, that God has ordained Himself in His body, as the Paschal 
Lamb, without the shedding of whose blood, no remission of sins 
can be had : for hereby, only, can the Lord " be just, and the justi- 
fier of him which believeth in Jesus."* 

Such is the doctrine of the blessed atonement, taught in the 
Scriptures of truth ; but this is essentially different from the cor- 
rupt doctrine afterwards declared b y the usurping and apostate 
clergy, in the Constantine period, when the plague of blood was 
poured out upon men. 

When Ezekiel was brought from the river of Chebar, in the 
visions of God, to Jerusalem,! and taken into the temple, he was 
shewn " a hole in the wall^'' and " a door^'' through which he was 
bid to enter, that he might see the wicked abominations which men 
committed in the secret recess. So he went in, and beheld " every 
form of creeping things, and abominable beasts, and all the idols of 
the house of Israel, portrayed upon the wall round about." There, 
also, stood men " at the door of the temple of the Lord, between 
the porch and the altar, with their hacks towards the temple of the 
Lord, and their faces towards the east, and they worshipped the 
sun toward the east." 

Let us do as Ezekiel did. Let us enter by the secret door, into 
the Esoteric mysteries of the churches, and see what creeping 
things are painted there, in the inside of their creeds and temples, 
and whether the men do not stand with their backs to the Lord, 
and their faces to their idols. And because Christ is the only door 
to the true church, and is also the professed door of the false 
churches, who betray him with a kiss, and because no one has 
power to detect the signs, and wonders, or miracles of Anti-Christ, 
but he who is truly engrafted on the knowledge and love of God, 

* Rom. iii. 26. t Ezek. ch. viii. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 61 

by faith in our Lord, we will dig into the loall of Gentile theology, 
and go in by the door of their profession in Christ. For be it never 
forgotten that Christ is the sure and infallible test to detect and 
reveal the inmost thoughts of our hearts ;* He is " a stone of 
stumbling, and a rock of offence to them which stumble at the 
word, being disobedient f but unto those ivho believe^ he is pre- 
cious,! and the only foundation of deliverance. As our hearts are, 
with regard to Christ, so are our hearts with regard to holiness and 
God, and our faith in Him is the sign by which churches are thrown 
down or built up, and neither can a true nor a false faith be con- 
cealed, any more than ointment in the hand, which betrays itself t 

All the professing Christian churches now in existence, of what- 
ever denomination, and by whatever name called, so far as my 
knowledge of them extends, may be divided into two great classes : 

1st. Those which believe that Christ had but one soul^ and that 
that soul was a created soul. 

2nd. Those which believe that Christ had ttvo souls, viz : one of 
them the eternal God, and the other a created soul. 

The believers in the first-named doctrine, may be all compre- 
hended under the appellation of Unitarians, whether they be 
Arians, Semi-Arians, or Socinians. And the members of the 
second class, I shall comprehend under the general term of Trini- 
tarians, whether they be believers in a Trinity of actual persons, or 
only in a Trinity of relations, principles, or actions. 

Unitarians assert that Christ had but one soul, and that that soul 
was a created soul. They do not believe that Christ is two, any 
more than they believe that God is three ; but, on the contrary 
they believe in the doctrine of God^s unity, and in the doctrine of 
Chrisfs unity. They challenge a single text to be produced, in 
all the Bible, to prove either that God is three beings, or that Christ 
is two beings. The Rev. Mr. Channing's words are these : '« We 
believe that Jesus is one mind, one soul, one being, as truly one as 
we are, and equally distinct from the one God. We complain of 
the doctrine of the Trinity, that, not satisfied with making God three 
beings, it makes Jes2is Christ tioo beings, and thus introduces 
infinite confusion into our conceptions of His character. This 
corruption of Christianity, alike repugnant to common sense and to 
the general strain of Scripture, is a remarkable proof of the power 

* Luke ii. 34, 35. t 1 Pet. ii. 7, 8. t Prov. xxvu. 16. 



62 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

of a false philosophy in disfiguring the simple truth of Jesus. 
According to this doctrine, Jesus Christ, instead of being one mind, 
one conscious, intelligent principle, whom we can understand, con- 
sists of two souls, two minds : the one divine, the other human ; 
the one weak, the other almighty ; the one ignorant, the other 
omniscient. Now, we maintain that this is to make Christ two 
beings. To denominate Him one person, one being, and yet to 
suppose Him made up of two minds, infinitely different from each 
other, is to abuse and confound language, and to throw darkness 
over all our conceptions of intelligent natures. According to the 
common doctrine, each of these two minds in Christ, has its own 
consciousness, its own will, its own perceptions. They have, in 
fact, no common properties. The divine mind feels none of the 
tomits and sorroios of the human, and the human is infinitely re- 
moved from the perfection and happiness of the divine. Can you 
conceive of two beings in the universe more distinct 7 We have 
always thought that one person was constituted and distinguished 
by one consciousness. The doctrine that one and the same person, 
should have two consciousnesses, two wills, two souls, infinitely 
different from each other, this we think an enormous tax on 
human credulity."* 

Unitarians, however, do not deny that there are texts of Scrip- 
ture, in which Christ is called God, and also a class of passages in 
which divine properties are said to be ascribed to Him.t But they 
answer : " It is one of the most established and obvious principles 
of criticism, that language is to be explained according to the 
known properties of the subject to which it is applied,"*^ A few 
sentences lower down, in the same discourse from which I am 
quoting, Mr. Channing says : «' It is our duty to explain such texts 
by the rule which we apply to other texts, in which human beings 
are called gods, and are said to be partakers of the divine nature, 
to know and possess all things, and to be filled with all God's ful- 
ness." From which, it appears that Unitarians resolve all such 
texts into di figure of speech, on the same principle as they resolve 
into the figure of speech, called by theologians anthropopathy^ all 
the scriptural texts which impute to the Supreme Being the feel- 
ings, sentiments, and afiections of a holy man. 

* Discourse at the ordination of the Rey. Jared Sparks, Baltimore, 1819, by the ReT. 
William E. Channing. 
t Vide same discourse, by Channing. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 63 

In many respects, I very greatly admire Mr. Channing. He 
was a man of great strength of mind and amiableness, and I 
earnestly recommend all his works to the candid study of every 
free inquirer. The last discourse which I believe he ever deliv- 
ered, that on the anniversary of the abolition of slavery in the West 
Indies, convinced me of our duty to consider the question of 
slavery, as connected with our federal constitution, in a manner 
very different from any which I had before conceived. My feelings 
towards his memory are of the highest respect and kindness, 
and yet, notwithstanding my very great regard for him, I must 
controvert his opinions on the doctrine of the divinity of our 
Saviour, with the same unreserved freedom with which he himself 
would have acted, in sustaining his principles. 

There is only one God, and one Christ. In this, the Unitarians 
are right. But they are totally wrong in denying that that one 
Christ is the one God. Mr. Channing is, however, correct in 
alleging that there is not "a book which demands a more frequent 
exercise of reason, than the Bible." It is a revelation of God to 
man, and therefore it is addressed to all the faculties, sentiments, 
and instincts which God has implanted in man. For all these 
faculties, sentiments, and instincts, are created with the express 
purpose that we may know and glorify God. They are the 
avenues through which we behold and approach God, and not one 
of them is given to us in vain. The Scriptures present objects, 
motives, and incitements to each power of our mind. We are con- 
stantly called upon to consider, to compare, to judge, to choose, to 
love, to reject, to abhor, and destroy, or to cherish, acquire, and 
accumulate. The word of the Lord furnishes food and refresh- 
ment to our souls, with no less variety and abundance than the 
physical creation of the Lord does to our bodies. All men do not 
equally profit by the same kind of physical aliment ; neither do 
all spirits, by the same kind of parable, type, metaphor, or argu- 
ment. Hence the natural creation abounds with riches and mag- 
nificence, that every man may rejoice, and with, at least, equal 
benevolence and wisdom, the Scriptures of God speak to every 
mind with a variety of instruction suited to our natures. But from 
the first chapter of Genesis to the last of Revelation, the same truth 
is taught, viz : that we are made in God's image ; that we are like 
God, and that, therefore, God is like us ; that He is our Father, our 



04 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS, 

only Saviour, and only sanctifier, and that, without a knowledge 
and love of Hiin, we are in darkness and death. 

The ngure anthropopathy by which theologians say that the Lord 
only makes believe, or pretends that He has human affections, and 
its kindred figure of speech, by which, say they,. He only pretends 
that holy men are renewed after the Divine image, are very greatly 
misapplied. How can theologians persuade themselves that they 
explain these modes of language "according to the knoion proper- 
ties of the subject," when the subject, viz : God, is unknown to 
us, except by that very revelation which they reject ? It is true 
we know well, both by nature and by revelation, that the Lord is 
without any imperfection, and that he sees the end from the begin- 
ning ; therefore, when it is said in some passages of Scripture, that 
'* the Lord repented that He had made Saul king over Israel,"* and 
again, " the strength of Israel will not lie nor repent, for He is not 
a man, that He should repent,"t we are to consider the whole text, 
and to judge accordingly. Repentance, when spoken of the 
Supreme Being, does not mean that things have happened con- 
trary to His foreknowledge, or by any vice or criminality on His 
part, but simply that the thing is contrary to His approbation at the 
time, and that He intends to change His providential dealings in 
regard to it. In all such expressions we must remember that sen- 
timents which, when applied to man, denote imperfection, can be 
referred to the Lord only in consistency with His divine and in- 
finite perfections of knowledge, power, and righteousness. For He 
does not possess the finite capacities of man ; but the infinite attri- 
butes of Jehovah. In all instances of this kind, we are directed by 
the whole context, how to understand and qualify the phrases. Bat 
no context of language, no knowledge, natural or revealed, which we 
have, no single assertion, text, or phrase, whatever, in the entire Bible, 
negatives the idea which the whole revelation of God conveys to 
us, that the Lord God Almighty is, in very deed, a rational, volun- 
tary, and sensitive being, having affections and sensibilities like we 
have, but without sin or imperfection, and that the divine mind 
does actually, and without any deception, sympathize with us in 
all our sorrows. The truth is, that this very character of God^ is 
that character, or infinty of amiableness, upon which the Lord builds 
the entire doctrine of the atonement, by writing His laws upon 

» 1 Sain. XV. 35. t 1 Sam. xv. 29. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 65 

our hearts, through the operation of love in His sacrifice. Love is 
OUR ATONEMENT, Qud no man can partake in this atonement, 
through the Lamb slain, who does not know God, as his sym- 
pathizing Father and Brother. 

Let any person candidly read the old Scriptures, and ask himself 
whether any description of the feelings of Christ, our God, is given 
in the new Scriptures, different from that which in the old Scrip- 
tures, is given of the Lord Jehovah ? In the new Scriptures He is 
represented as a person having no beauty, to the carnal mind, that 
we should desire Him ; despised and rejected ; a man of sorrows 
and acquainted with griefs ; we hide our faces from Him, we 
despise Him and esteem Him not ; He was wounded for our trans- 
gressions, and bruised for our iniquities. In the old Scriptures, 
precisely the same history is recorded of Him. He led out Israel 
from" Egypt in a pillar of cloud and of fire ; yet they saw no beauty 
in Him, but desired Aaron to make them golden calves ; He was 
despised and rejected ; His own elect people hid their faces from 
Him, and turned to idols in the wilderness ; the Lord afflicted them, 
but not willingly, or with pleasure, but with regret and sympathy 
for them. He says, (speaking by his prophet Isaiah,) "in all 
their afflictions He was afflicted, and the angel of His presence 
saved them ; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them, and 
He bore them and carried them, all the days of old ; but they re- 
belled and vexed, {or grieved,) His holy Spirit."* All through the 
old Scriptures you find the liord represented by those very emo- 
tions, sentiments, and sympathies which belong to the human spirit, 
renewed in His likeness, but without imperfection or sin, and if, 
therefore, in the new Scriptures, it required a created soul to mani- 
fest such feelings, why did it not also require a created soul in 
Jehovah to manifest them in the old Scriptures ? It is fully demon- 
strable, that the same Christ or rock, who appeared and walked in 
the pillar of flesh in Jerusalem, is the same rock or God who ap- 
peared and led Israel in the pillar of cloud and of fire, in the 
wilderness, and the like history is recorded of Him in both mani- 
festations of Himself. 

Nor are Unitarians correct in their arsfument as to the texts 
in the Bible, " in which human beings are called gods, and are said 
to be partakers of the divine nature, to know and possess all things, 

* Isaiah Ixiii. 9, 10. 



66 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

and to be filled with all God's fulness." For there are no such texts 
that I am aware of, except those which speak of the faithful, who are 
united to God by faith in Christ, and then from the whole context we 
are unequivocally taught that this character belongs not to us, in our 
own strength, nor in absolute perfection, but simply by and in pro- 
portion to our union with Christ, our God, as His living body. All 
this is an argument to prove the divinity of Christ, instead of dis- 
proving it. For these attributes are ascribed to Christ, in His 
oion right as God ; but to us, solely by our union with Him as 
our God, our Saviour, and our quickener. 

Mr. Channing observes, that the Trinitarian doctrine of the 
dualty of Christ " is a remarkable proof of the power of a false 
philosophy in disfiguring the simple truth of Jesus." Both the 
triad of the Deity and the duahsm of our Saviour, as corrupted by 
Trinitarians, I believe to be growths from the root of Platonism. 
INeither do I doubt that the doctrine of the impassibility of God, is 
equally a corruption of Christianity, springing from the dogmas of 
Aristotle. Platonism and Aristotelianism, although their empire 
has ceased in physics, still, under most wonderful disguises, 
govern the moral and spiritual world of human philosophy, or 
rather, I should say, the philosophy of theologians, and the form 
of Christianity now existing is old Greek philosophy dressed up 
in the garb of Jesus. Plato taught the great system of emana- 
tions, and Aristotle the great system of abstractions. All the 
developements of being, in Aristotelianism, "appear only under 
the form of abstract notions. Abstractions beget abstractions, as 
persons engender persons."* In Aristotle's opinion, the Deity is a 
mere abstraction, and from necessity, must be confined eternally to 
the contemplation of His own nature ; He observes nothing, and 
cares for, or can be affected by nothing beyond Himselft So 
modern theologians, while they profess to consider God as perfect, 
deprive Him of those very attributes, which are necessary to con- 
stitute moral and mental perfection and power. 

The Deity is immutable. This is an undoubted truth. But 
how absurd are the conclusions which theologians draw from this 
doctrine : conclusions which, in my opinion, deprive the Lord of 
all rational, volitive, and sensitive capacities. They consider him 

* 1. Henry's History of Pliilosopliy, 159. 

t Eiifields' History of Philosophy, tit. — Aristotle. I have not the work by me now to 
refer to, else I would quote it with more particularity. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 67 

a Spirit, possessing infinite power or faculties, knowledge, and 
moral sentiments or feelings, and yet abstracted from every ca- 
pacity to reason, know, or feel. How came He by His perfections, 
His fulness of wisdom and benevolence ? We must suppose that 
theologians would answer, He had them from eternity, and from 
the necessity of His nature He is omnicient, all-powerful, and all- 
good. But I would reply : the Lord could not eternally have had 
this fulness, had He not eternally possessed faculties of reason, 
will, and feeling, as a sensitive, rational, and volitive Spirit ; for if 
He were abstracted from these, He would either be a nonentity, or, 
if such a thing were possible, a mass of void and dead spirit, incapa- 
ble of action. Theologians, it appears to me, argue in this way: 
the mind of the Lord was eternally in a certain state or condition, 
therefore eternally it must exist, bound as it were by a supreme 
fate, in that unvarying state, feeling, or condition ; or else the Lord 
becomes mutable, which is contrary to his nature. But the argu- 
ment does not hold good. As respects inanimate or inert matter, 
not having a power of self-motion, its eternal existence in any state 
or condition, would, on the atheistic 'pretence, that there is no God, 
be an indubitable argument to prove, that it must forever remain 
in that same unchanging condition or form of combination ; for it 
could have no power to change itself, and if there were no God^ 
there could be no other cause to change it. But the argument can- 
not be applied to an eternal Spirit, having reason, will, and sensibil- 
ity, and therefore the power of self-motion and action, by the exer- 
cise of its own faculties. For these very faculties are eternal 
causes, capable of producing changes by a wise, holy, and powerful 
energy, in accordance with their nature. Hence it was that God 
was able to, and did create the universe from nothings by the 
energy of His will. The Lord is bound by no Pagan fate ; but is 
a rational, voluntary, and sensitive Being, and acts as such. Theo- 
logians, however, would bind him up in one unvarying sameness, 
or mass of homogeneous feeling. In the scheme of their systems, 
He cannot exercise reason nor will, nor be sensible to impressions ; 
for all these acts, according to their doctrine, would be mutations. 
They should bear in mind that immutability in the divine Spirit, 
does not consist in not being able to judge, will, and feel, but in 
always possessing these capacities in unchanging perfection, and 
exercising them at all times with undiminished power, wisdom, and 



68 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

righteousness. If a clod of the earth, or any irrational, involitive, 
and insentient substance could think, judge, will, and feel, this 
would be a change of nature ; but when a rational, volitive, and 
sensitive being exercises these faculties with unvarying perfection, 
these are not changes, but affirmances or executions of his nature, 
and are necessary for his very immutability ; for if he could ever 
cease to have the ability, such very departure from his nature, 
would be a change or corruption. Therefore to-day, if our conduct 
be in accordance with the will of the Lord, He regards us with favor ; 
but to-morrow if we do iniquity, He will condemn us. For as He 
says to Eli, " I said, indeed, that thy house, and the house of thy 
father, should walk before me forever ; but now the Lord saith, be 
it far from me ; for them that honor me, I will honor, and they 
that despise me, shall be lightly esteemed."* Also, the Lord says, 
"Hear ye me Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin, the Lord is with 
you, while ye be with him, and if ye seek him, he will be found of 
you ; but if you forsake him, he will forsake you."t The Bible is 
throughout filled with like passages. Yet in no instance is the 
Lord mutable; for all His judgments, feelings, and determinations, 
are forever in accordance with His immutable power, wisdom, and 
love. He regards always sin with abhorrence, and righteousness 
with joy. 

It is true the Lord says, '^ for my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
neither are your ways my ways ; for as the heavens are higher 
than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my 
thoughts than your thoughts."! But these words are addressed to 
the wicked. For what says the Lord, '' let the wicked forsake his 
way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts, and let him return 
unto the Lord, and He will have mercy upon him, and to our God, 
for He will abundantly pardon." § In holiness and wisdom, God's 
knowledge and righteousness are infinitely above ours ; yet so far 
as we are holy and wise, our thoughts and ways are as His : for 
we are like-minded with Him. 

It may be objected that God is indeed a Spirit, having powers of 
reason, volition, and sensibility, such as I have mentioned ; but that 
all His thoughts, knowledge, and feelings, or consciousness, must be 
ever present in His mind, at one and the same time and forever, in 
one everlasting sameness of harmony, and that therefore He could 

* 1 Sam., ii 30. t 2 Chron xv. 2. t Isaiah Iv. 8, 9. § Isaiah It. 6, 7. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 69 

not have exhibited such manifestations of successive sentiments 
and suffering as were represented in the person of Christ. 

To this objection, I answer as follows. God by the energy of the 
condition of His mind or will, created matter, and all finite spirits 
cut of nothing. For we have no evidence whatever that our 
spirits existed from eternity ; but all observation and consciousness 
teach us that they came into existence, comparatively, but a brief 
time ago. We are not emanations of God, but creations of God : for 
we are no part of the Lord's essence ; but have distinct individual 
existence and action. And if God could thus create our spirits 
from nothings why could He not have created matter from nothing! 
My belief is as already stated, that the Lord, by the mere energy of 
the state or condition of His mind or will, created the whole uni- 
verse of matter, and of finite spirits, out of nothing. To be sure it 
has got to be a maxim with some, that from; nothings nothing 
comes, and they consider it to be a self-contradiction to assert, that 
even Almighty power could create any thing from nothing ; they 
think it is like producing an effect, without a cause. But the cause, 
in this instance, is the will of God, and the creation is the effect ; so 
that in application to this view of the subject, it is not right to say, 
that such a creation is the production of something from nothing ; 
for it is an effect from an all-powerful cause, viz : the energy 
of the mind of God, who had power to do all things not involving 
a self-contradiction. But what follows from this ? why, if the 
mind of the Lord were always and forever in one unvarying 
homogeneous energy or state of feeling, determination and action, 
would not the outward occurrences of creation, which are nothing 
but the open manifestations of the inward states of the mind of 
the Lord, be always and forever in a corresponding unchanging 
condition, without succession or alteration. Nay, would not all 
creation be only one unvarying mass of identity, like the creating 
mind of God, which is the Author of it. But we perceive the out- 
ward acts of God taking place in succession, and therefore we 
must suppose that the inward acts of the Lord which produce 
them, take place also, or are experienced in succession. 

Beside the theologian doctrine of the homogeneousness of the state 
of mind of the Lord, leads also to another conclusion, which mili- 
tates against the perfection of the Deity. For the Lord assures us 
that He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked ; sin is offensive 



70 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

to Hinij and righteousness is His delight. Pleasure and displeasure 
are opposite conditions, and if they are mixed in the mind and 
ever present, the mind is not in that same pleased or happy state, 
which would attend it, if all things went according to its holy de- 
sire. Wherefore, at the end of some millions of centuries from this, 
when the whole universe shall be in the fruition of a high state of 
holiness and happiness, the delight of the Lord must still, accord- 
ing to the theologian doctrine, be abated by the recollection and 
present feeling of the former sins and misery of His people ; nor 
can He ever think of any one of them, without that sentiment of 
disapprobation with which He regarded him, when He was a trans- 
gressor in wilful disobedience ! 

I confess, however, that the operations of my own mind are a 
mystery to me ; much more, therefore, must be the operations of the 
mind of the Deity. I pretend not to say, except as the Lord has 
declared in His word, how His emotions, judgments, perceptions, 
and determination, influence Him ; but I know that He will be more 
pleased, when all do His pleasure, than He is now when so many vio- 
late His law, and that our heavenly Father, Himself, will rejoice 
over the sinner who repents, and will share in the joy of the 
Angels in the presence of God. 

Yet even grant that the doctrine of the schoolmen be correct, 
and that the mind of the Lord is forever chained by the iron links 
of fate, to one unvarying sameness, what then? Still his emo- 
tions must all he exhibited to us in succession. All the outward 
acts of His mind are in succession, and a representation to us, of 
the inward state of His mind, m^ust also be in succession. So 
that the dogmas of theologians, even if granted, would not help 
them as a ground for denying the sole divinity of Christ. 

Another argument which the schoolmen use is this ; they argue 
that no finite power, can act against an infinite power, and that 
therefore no act of man can give pain to the infinite Jehovah. For 
the Lord's power being infinite, how can any thing less than infinity 
make any impression upon Him ! But according to this, it would 
be impossible for the Almighty to hear or see man ; for man being 
finite, how can any finite being, be such an object, as would have 
power to convey an impression to the infinite mind. The error of 
theologians arises from their not making a proper distinction. In- 
finite power cannot, contrary to his own determination, be acted 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 71 

upon by any finite being ; for by His Almighty power. He can at 
once crush and annihihite all opposition into its original nothing- 
ness. The feebleness of man would have had no power to crucify 
the Lord, had not the Lord, for His own benevolent purpose of 
salvation, chosen to submit His omnipotence to our sinful weak- 
ness. Christ could have annihilated His murderers, and the whole 
earth ; but how then could man have been saved ! For salvation can 
be had in no other way, than by the free exercise of rational and 
voluntary faculties in choosing good and rejecting evil. Each faculty 
is exercised by the presentation of proper objects to it, suited to its 
peculiar feeling or apprehension. Causality, comparison, benevo- 
lence, justice, and all the other powers and sentiments of the mind, 
have their proper and distinct food. And we must act for our- 
selves, and not another for us. The child that is never weaned, 
will always be a suckling. The judgment is not to be exercised by 
giving an undue preponderance to other faculties or sentiments, 
which might for the moment make us take an outward course in 
itself right, but to which we would not be led by the judgment, or 
by the nobler powers of the mind. On the contrary, the judgment 
is exercised rather, by gradually weakening the impulses of the sen- 
sual aids, and instructing us more and more to stand upon the 
strength of the higher energies. Therefore it is, that the least in 
the kingdom of heaven, by faith in .the blood of God, is greater than 
John the Baptist ; or than any born by mere visions or influences 
upon them, or miraculous visitations as the ancient Prophets before 
the sacrifice of our Saviour.* For the sight of God, upon the cross, 
dying as a malefactor, that we, through this spectacle, might behold 
at once, the true nature, character, and government of God, his abhor- 
rence of sin, yet his amazing and unspeakable love, condescension, 
humility, and long-suffering ; our own blind self-righteousness, bigo- 
try, and blasphemy — this sight, I say, when truly beheld and be- 
lieved, cannot fail to overcome our enmity by love, and to write 
upon our hearts the living laws of God. Now, had not the Lord 
thus died, had He borne much indignity, but not condescended to 
the death of the cross, then we should have had the example of a 
God almost dying for us, but not quite ; He would have been 
almost a Saviour, but not quite, and our hope would have been 
lost in terror. No comforter would then have come to our hearts. 

* Matt. xi. 11. 



72 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

But as it is, we have the full assurance, that God who gave His own 

life for us, will freely, with Himself, also give us all things. And 
in this manner Christ slays and annihilates the malice of man, 
which opposes itself to His infinity. He exterminates it, not by 
greater enmity, but by love : He destroys the hand which pierces 
Him, not by destruction, but by salvation, and converts His deadly 
foes into friends and brothers. 

Reader, suppose that it should please the Lord to assume and 
animate a human fleshly body, and to stand by your side, and you 
should take and hold His hand, could He not feel that you held it 7 
You might say, He would know it by His omniscience ; but what 
is this omniscence but the totality or fulness of knowledge belong- 
ing to Him as a rational, volitive, and sentient Being? If He pos- 
sessed not those powers. He would not have had omniscence, nor 
knowledge of any kind. But concede that He would know it 
from omniscence, could He not also^ at the time, /eeZ it ? And if 
you grasped His hand more roughly, would He not feel such addi- 
tional pressure ? If you pierced it with a nail, would He not feel 
then the sensation of a nail piercing Him ? How it is that matter 
acts directly upon spirit, and spirit upon matter I know not. But 
it is a fact that such is the case. Your spirit moves your body, by 
the mere volition of your mind, and your body acts back upon 
your spirit. If you strike your hand upon a stone or a nail, your 
spirit feels it, not your body ; for the body is composed of dust of the 
earth, and has no more feeling than its kindred dust. Some philoso- 
phers used to suppose, or, for aught I know, may yet imagine, that 
there is a third principle, or medium^ neither body nor spirit, 
which exists in man, and forms the connexion between spirit and 
body. They can prove the existence of no such principle ; nor 
would it help them out of their difficulty, but only increase it ; for. 
they would then have not only to account for the manner in which 
that third principle, which is neither body nor spirit, can act upon 
either, and upon both, but also for the manner of the existence and 
the nature of that mysterious third, which no experiment, ob« 
servation, or ingenuity of mind, has ever yet detected in any of its 
phenomena. Certain it is then, though to us inexplicable, that matter 
acts directly upon spirit, when united in a certain living organized 
form, and by a hard pressure, or by transpiercing, occasions agony, 
terminating in death. The more perfect the spirit is, the more sen- 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 73 

sitlve it is to pain ; in other words, the more life it has, the higher is 
its sense of feeling, and an infinite sensibility must be susceptible 
to pain, in a degree of which we can have no conception whatever. 
Infinite power, conjoined with infinite sense of feeling, could for- 
ever prevent unpleasant or hostile sensations, by destroying the 
object meditating an injury ; or in a human body, could harden the 
flesh, or destroy the nervous sensibility, or cause the atoms of flesh 
miraculously to open, and permit the piercing substance to enter and 
penetrate the body without the slightest injury to the parts ; or 
could, by an imperfect use of some of these preventives, modify 
the pain of the wound, as, in wisdom. He might think proper. 
But if, without availing Himself of this power, He should submit 
His perfect and sensible body to an agonizing death upon the cross, 
the mere fact of His infinity of spiritual life or sensibility, would 
by no means, lessen, but unspeakably increase the anguish. That 
our Lord Jesus, the God of the whole earth, did endure this bloody 
agony upon Calvary, inflicted by sinful men, who professed to be 
His chosen and favored people, I have no doubt ; wonderful, most 
wonderful, as such an awful scene must appear to our minds. 

But this could not be, say books on theology, because the eternal 
Spirit cannot die ; the eternal Spirit has no blood to shed ; there- 
fore it was not God who died , nor are we saved by the hlood of 
Ood, although the Bible expressly declares so.* 

How futile are these objections ! Does your spirit or my spirit 
die, at death? No. But a separation takes place of spirit and 
body, and this is what is called death in this understanding. Death 
never means annihilation ; for I am not aware that any portion of 
God's creation will ever be annihilated. A plant dies, when a 
separation takes place of certain of its elements ; the body dies 
when the spirit leaves it ; a man dies civilly when he is separated 
from his former civil rights ; the spirit of man dies when it is sepa- 
rated from a living faith in God, and our God and Saviour, the 
Lord Jesus, died when the eternal Godhead quitted His body upon 
the cross. No spirit has blood and tears, but we call the blood 
and tears which issue from your body, i/our blood and tears, 
because they belong to the body which your spirit animates. The 
expressions as are correctly applied to the blood and tears of 
God as to our own blood and tears. And I see not why all 

* Acts XX. 28. 

10 



74 THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 

the actions of life might not be performed by the eternal Spirit 
when clothed with a iiuman body, as naturally as by a created 
spirit ; with this exception, that the perfection of an infinite Spirit 
must ahoays exist unalienable/ in the Godhead^ lohatever form or 
humilation He may assume ; although we may not be able to 
account for the manner of such operations, any more than we can 
for any of His infinity. He may assume and animate a body and 
continue its life, by whatever laws He may choose to fore-ordain, 
and at the same time be the God, the ruler and upholder of the 
whole universe. In short. He can do every thing, the doing of 
which does not imply a self-contradiction in its very nature. 

I do not deny that " loithout controversy great is the mystery of 
Godliness. God was manifest in the flesh ; justified in the spirit ; seen 
of angels ; preached unto the Gentiles ; believed on in the world ; 
received up into glory.'"^ Any one can, in a few moments, ask me 
or any other person, questions about this mystery, which no created 
intelligence can answer. And forever there will be a knowledge 
in advance of us, which will exceed our utmost powers to compre- 
hend. But the only way to know God at all, or to make progress in 
knowledge of Him, is to receive Him as revealed in the body of 
Christ, and by patient diligence, to persevere in our inquiries and 
attainments. He who rejects the divinity.of Jesus can, while he 
remains in such unbelief, never see God. For the very first manifes- 
tation of God, must be in a form in which His infinity is obscured or 
concealed, and only apparent finite parts are presented to our view. 
And this very exhibition must also be of such a character that, 
while it teaches us the abhorrence of God at sin, it shall represent 
to us, in the strongest language, His boundless and unceasing love, 
together with our own iniquity and nothingness, the necessity of 
penitence, and the duty of faith, humility, and a child-like docility 
and obedience ; that is to say, it must be an exhibition of the cross 
of God. 

The Unitarians, therefore, who deny the divinity of Christ, are 
aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants 
of promise, having no true hope, and without God in the world.t 

For in what can they hope ? Is it in the moral law from mount 
Sinai, with its thunderings and lightnings, and terrors, to all who 
have not lived and shall not abide therein, with entire faithfulness ? 
But no commandment, as I have before stated, can renew the heart 

* 1 Tim. iii. 16. t Eph. ii. 12. 



THE ATONEMENT AND UNITARIANS. 75 

by love ; for a commandment, delivered to a sinful and arrogant son, 
by a father, of whose true nature and character the son is altogether 
ignorant, will never be obeyed in spirit, but will rather excite ten- 
dencies to transgression. Nevertheless, a father who intends to 
bring in a better hope, may wisely deliver his moral code, ordain- 
ing certain sacrifices for violations of it, that his children or people 
may continually have a remembrance of sin, and that by con- 
stant sacrifices under the law, they may be seen all stained with 
guilty blood ; that " sin might appear sin, working death in me by 
that which is good."* For no fleshly sacrifices or ordinances, under 
any dispensation, annexed by way of aid to the moral law, can ever 
purge the conscience from dead works ; else would they have ceased ; 
for the sacrifices are for the broken laio ; and when the law is 
kept and not broken^ "there is no more offering for sin."t But 
one who is a true and diligent seeker under the moral law, assisted 
by these fleshly sacrifices, finding that he is prone always to prefer 
an instant and sensual gratification to the better impulse, which, in 
the midst of all our ignorance, is still striving, more or less, in the 
hearts of all men, at last cries out in the agony of a disturbed and 
alarmed conscience, "O wretched man that lam, who shall deliver 
me from the body of this death ?"t Thus is he prepared to look 
upon Christ, and then beholding^ knowings and loving that true 
exhibition of the nature, the character, and government of our 
heavenly Father, he is transformed to a disposition of mind which 
rejoices in holiness, and he keeps that perfect law, which before, 
while he was under fleshly ordinances, was but an incentive to sin. 
And now, how are Unitarians in a better hope than ancient Israel 1 
Israel had those same commandments which the Unitarians, at 
present have, and in addition to them, they had the ordinances of 
flesh, as remembrances of sin, and if there were, in the nature of 
things, any such law whereby inward life might have been had, 
it would be this same law of Moses, as joined with Aaron. § But it 
is impossible ! Nothing can save us but a mind renewed in know- 
ledge, after the image of Him who created us.ll Unitarians by re- 
jecting Christ, attest their own ignorance of the divine nature, and 
while they profess to be in life, they are in death. For they trample 
under foot that only atonement of the blood of God, by which 
alone selfishness is swallowed up in universal love, and all created 

* Rom. vii. 5-13. f Heb. x. 18. t Rom. tii. 24. § Gal. iii. 21. || Col. iii. lO. 



76 TRINITARIANS. 

intelligences become joint members of one spiritual and risen body, 
of the infinite Jehovah. 

Having already occupied much space, in treating of the princi- 
ples of the Unitarians, I shall reserve what I have to say concern- 
ing Trinitarians, for the succeeding chapter. 



CHAPTER YI. 



TEINITARIANS. 



We come now to the second division of professing Christians, as 
they exist at this day, viz : those who believe that Christ had tioo 
souls, one of them the eternal God, and the other a created soul. 
This class I denominate Trinitarians, whether they beheve in a 
Trinity of actual persons, or only in a Trinity of relations, principles, 
or actions. But, I do not use either the word Trinitarian or Unita- 
rian, with any design to reproach the adoption of such terms, if we 
have right meanings attached to them. For all true Christians are 
Unitarian, as they .believe in one God, manifested in one Christ ; 
and yet, they are Trinitarian ; for they believe that the one God, our 
Father, who was manifested in the one Christy our /Saviour, comes 
again from the second veil, or the holy of holies, without sin, as 
our one sanctifier and comforter. 

But the words Unitarian and Trinitarian, were not adopted until 
the professors of our Lord were sinking under the plague of blood, 
and probably if the churches were restored to original purity of 
gospel faith, there would be no need now for the above appella- 
tions, any more than there was with the primitive Christians. 
Yet, possibly owing to increased knowledge, and multiplying dis- 
tinctions of thought, men may choose always to retain them ; for 
new words must be adopted as new ideas are formed. I speak not, 
therefore, against a right use of names or phrases ; only premising 
that whatever terms we use, we must, or should have correct 
knowledge attached to theni. 



TRINITARIANS. 77 

Nor by Trinitarians, as applied in this chapter, do I make any 
distinction between Trinitarians in the faith of actual persons, and 
of relations, actions, or principles merely. Because both these sub- 
divisions of professing Christians adopt the belief that God cannot 
suffer, and that, therefore, the Lord Jesus had, as formerly men- 
tioned, two souls; the Godhead and a created soul. Any of 
my readers may, at once, perceive that a difference of opinion 
between theologians, whether God is essentially one person or 
three persons, does not necessarily create a difference on the 
questions whether that one God, or that one — three God, can 
suffer, and whether the God-soul of Christ had not, in combination 
with it, a created suffering soul. If, indeed, a church has sincerely 
adopted the faith, that God is one, and that this one God was, 
and is the sole spirit of our Lord and Saviour Christ Jesus, who 
had but one soul, as we ourselves have but one soul, then that church 
is built upon a true knowledge of the Almighty. Such a faith in our 
heavenly Father, from necessity begets a filial reverence and love 
in the bosoms of all who truly receive it, and this filiation is our new 
birth into the kingdom of God. Salvation is to know, to love, and to 
obey the Lord, as our Father. This is the whole mystery. But how 
can we know the God of the theologians, who is abstracted into a 
nonentity ; how can we love a Being to whose nature our rational, 
voluntary, and sensitive faculties, and constitution, bear no image 
nor sympathy, and who cannot be touched with compassion for 
our infirmities, and how can obedience flow from our hearts if 
love and knowledge be wanting? The cross or blood of God 
removes, instantly, all these veils from the mind. We cannot 
behold that cross ; we cannot see our God and Saviour placed 
upon it, without experiencing that our enmity is slain, and break- 
ing out in the fervent exclamation, "God forbid that I should glory 
save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ."* In no other way can 
the knowledge and love of God be shed abroad in our hearts, and, 
therefore, he who rejects this faith in the blood of God, has no 
sonship to the Lord. 

But without care you will be in danger of incurring much mis- 
apprehension of the meaning of some professing Christians, who 
deny the doctrine of the Trinity of actual persons, and believe the 
Trinity of relations only. For they talk about the sole divinity of 

» Gal. vi. 14. 



78 TRINTARIANS. 

our Saviour ; from which you might infer that they believe that He 
was solely God, without the union of a created spirit. But this is not 
their faith. By the plirase sole divinity of Christ, they mean only that 
the one or sole God dwelt in Him, in combination with a created soul, 
and not the seco?id person of the one— three God. I repeat what I 
have before, in some passage, said, that I do not know of a single 
church in existence, by whatever name it is called, which does really 
beheve in the sole divinity of Jesus, that is, that His spirit was God, 
and God only. For without exception, as I understand them, 
they all hold the belief that God cannot suffer, and that it was a 
created soul which endured the sufferings and death of the cross. 
The Swedenborgers, who, in my opinion, are more steeped in 
Platonism, and in a species of docetism, than any other denomina- 
tion with which I am acquainted, teach that Christ had a suffering 
human or created soul, derived from His mother ; but that the 
impassible divinity derived from His Father, so united itself to that 
human soul as to absorb this created soul into the Godhead, and 
make it one with itself as a divine unity. The Rev. R. De Charms, 
who is an ordaining minister of that church, while he admits this 
absorbing operation to be inexplicable, attempts to illustrate it by 
the petrifaction of wood, whereby '' stony particles are made to 
take the place and assume perfectly the form of the woody parti- 
cles which pass off in the process ;"* '' so, (he adds,) by glorification 
in the Lord, a perfect divine, external human substance, form, and 
activity, was made to exist, instead of the humanity which He 
assumed from the virgin." 

In Exodus XX. 25, the Lord says to Moses, " and if you will 
make me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stone, 
for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast polluted it.^^ What 
right has any one to add to the word of God ? Is there a single 
passage in the whole Scriptures, in which two souls of Christ are 
spoken of? He is called God, and the actions and government of 
God are ascribed to him, and to deny this, either positively or by 
indirection, is to violate the commandment of the Lord, and to 
build an altar of idolatry. To place a created soul in the temple 
or body of God, as the object of worship, is to seat the image of 
jealousy, or the abomination that makes desolate, in the holy place, 
where it ought not to be, and cannot fail to call down upon our 
heads, all the consequences of impiety. 

* De Charms's Sermons, 221. 



TRINITARIANS. 79 

The controversies between Arians and Athanasians, were the 
cause of the shedding of rivers of blood, and under one form or 
another, the disputes concerning the Deity of our Saviour, have 
divided the Churches by the most implacable discord. But in 
reality, what is the mighty difference between the corrupted doc- 
trines of Unitarians and Trinitarians, which have existed for so 
many centuries ? They both alike believe the Lord to be impas- 
sible, and incapable of actions, sentiments, and feelings, as a 
rational, volitive, and sensitive Spirit, upon whose exemplar we are 
made ; they both alike believe that a created soul, performed the 
actions and endured the cross of Christ, and they both alike pro- 
fess to believe that the fulness of the Deity upheld and sustained 
the weakness and imperfection of that created soul. In what do 
they differ ? I do not mean in relation to the Trinity of persons in 
the Deity, but simply in relation to the Godhead of Christ. Won- 
derful as it may seem, the only difference between them on this 
point, amounts to this : Unitarians believe Christ to be a created 
soul, upheld by the fulness of the operation of God, who is 
every where essentially present ; and Trinitarians also believe 
Christ to be a created soul, upheld by the fidness of the operation 
of God, who was essentially present in the body of Christ. 
Neither Unitarians nor Trinitarians have the least thought that the 
Deity endured the pains of the cross, or that he could at all sym- 
pathize with the created soul of Jesus, in its agony and humiliation. 
The Unitarians, under this belief in Christ, refuse to worship him, 
allegmg him to be a creature of God, and very justly saying, that 
we must worship none but God ; but the Trinitarians, although 
they believe Christ to be a created soul, do still worship him as 
God : if, however, they were interrogated as to their worship, I 
presume they would explain, that in worshipping Christ, they do 
not worship the created soul, but only the Godhead. Again then, 
I ask, in what do these two great divisions of the churches differ, 
except in the fact, that Unitarians exceed in supposed rationalism 
and Aristotelianism, and Trinitarians in mysticism and Platonism 7 
Yet, the Athanasian and Arian wars, depending on subtle and 
unmeaning expressions, and scholastic jargon, (wars in which 
Christ is slain, and Barabbas released and chosen in his place,) 
arrayed armies against armies, and rent the whole professing 
Christian world, to its most distant extremities. 



80 TRINITARIANS. 

I am aware that other differences, beside the divinity of our 
Saviour, divide the Unitarian from some of the Trinitarian chur- 
ches ; for instance, the doctrine of the atonement. On this subject, 
also, the Unitarians have an advantage over their adversaries, who 
hold the doctrine of ^^two souls''' in Christ ; although both Unita- 
rians, (as their creeds now are,) and Trinitarians, are in fatal error. 

But upon the principle of the faith taught in the Bible, that Christ 
had but one Spirit, and that that one Spirit was and is the eternal 
Father and one God, you then would perceive a divine and infinite 
efficacy in the blood of the Lamb of God, who was prefigured by 
the Paschal Lamb, and by the other atoning or propitiating ordi- 
nances. For, as already exhibited, the blood of God, speaks with 
this voice ; you can give me nothing — it is / who give myself 
for you^ and beside me there is no Saviour ; sacrifice and offering I 
do not desire, hut an ear open to hear and obey my law of love ; for 
the slaying of any created being, whether brute or human, to 
appease my wrath, is adding only sin to sin, and is of no more value 
than if you should oflfer a dog's head, or swine's blood.* There- 
fore, I have ordained myself as the great atoning sacrifice^ know- 
ing full well, that he who accepts and applies this Lamb of God to 
his conscience, must know and feel these redeeming truths, viz : his 
own guilty murder of me ; his own total inability and blindness as 
to all holiness ; his duty of purification by baptism into my name 
or righteousness by constant faith in me, and an all-conquering love, 
which will quicken every power of man by the instinct of a new 
life, when he thus sees and acknowledges my real nature, character, 
and universal government, as the Father of all my children, and 
the redeemer and sanctifier of all my lost ones ! 

Unitarians as they are without this sacrifice of God, are without 
true religion ; but Trinitarians as they have substituted a " created 
soul," in place of the atonement of God, are no less abhorent to the 
Lord. What can be more contrary to the natural or the revealed 
word of God, than the Trinitarian atonement ! The teachers of 
this doctrine assure us, that the Father cannot forgive penitents, 
unless some righteous created soul should pay him an equivalent ! 
God must have his pound of flesh ! Some created soul who has 
never sinned, must take upon himself a mass of suffering, equiva- 
lent to what would have been the sufferings of all the redeemed, 

* Isai. Ixvi. 1-3. 



TRINITARIANS. 81 

had they not been saved ! How unfounded ! Does not our Heav- 
enly Father expressly enjoin upon us, ihQ free forgiveness of our 
enemies ; and does He then inculcate upon us^ a higher and more 
excellent holiness, than He Himself possesses or can practice? No. 
Freely in His grace, does he abundantly give us all things ; and 
we have a constant advocate in His own bosom. His undying love, 
which will never cease, until He shall have brought the entire uni- 
verse of His rational creation to knowledge and happiness. 

Neither will He at all tolerate the infliction of death or suffering 
upon an innocent being, as a bribe, or an equivalent in the place of 
justice. All souls are His. " The soul that sinneth it shall die."* 
No one shall bear the iniquity of another ; but " the righteousness 
of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wick- 
ed, shall be upon him" ;t and each one shall be judged, according 
to his own ways. When we repent, and cast away our transgres- 
sions, and are renewed in spirit by a knowledge and love of God, 
then our heavenly Parent freely, for His own sake, forgives our ini- 
quity, remembers our sins no more, and adopts us into His family. 
But no created being has paid Him for the evil of sin. God Him- 
self is the Lamh slain and in the blood of atoning love. He makes 
us clean : upon this love, as upon a scape-goat under the Levitical 
ordinances. He puts our sins, and bears them away to a distant land, 
no more to be remembered against us. 

In fact, if Unitarians thought that the vicarious sacrifice of a 
created soul, were necessary to the doctrine of the atonement, they 
could incorporate that principle upon their system, as well as the 
Trinitarians. So also could the advocates of a Trinity of relations, 
as well as those who believe in a Trinity of actual persons in the 
divine nature. For the Lord in one relation, may pay Himself a 
debt due to Himself in another relation, and a created soul might 
be sustained, both in perfect obedience and in agonizing suffering, by 
the omnipresence and fulness of the operation of the Deity in Christ, 
equally under the Unitarian scheme, as by the Trinitarian. But 
this whole plan of a vicarious obedience, agony, and payment, by a 
created soul, for the sins of the world, is, in my apprehension, as for- 
eign to the truth and spirit of Christianity, as darkness is from light. 

Thus have I submitted my views cone em mg the creeds of all 
the churches now in existence : for Catholic and Protestant, Epis- 

* Ezek. xviii. 4. t Read the whole of Ezekiel xviii. 

11 



82 



TRINITARIANS. 



copalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Baptist, Congregational, or by 
whatever name or sectarianism distinguished, they all alike reject 
the sole divinity of the spirit of Christ. If there should be any 
church, which does not make this a point in their creed, but who 
profess that they believe all that the Bible says of Christ, without 
knowing or understanding what that is, they are no less ahens 
from God than the others : for we are not saved by ignorance, but 
by knowledge. 

The Bible doctrine is this : Christ had and has but one 
SOUL ; and that one soul, is the one and only God and 
Father. This true doctrine of God in Christ, is the stone cut out 
of the mountain without hands, which is to smite and break in 
pieces the iron, the brass, the clay, the silver, and the gold of the 
present apostate churches, and corrupt national dynasties, and 
introduce a new heaven and earth, or new spiritual and political 
conditions, in place of the existing state of things : for the great 
day of the wrath of the Lord is come, and the present establishments 
will become like the chaff of the summer threshing-floors, * and be 
carried away. 

Since then, the knowledge of God lies at the very foundation of 
salvation, and is the great corner stone upon which our stability is 
made to rest, I purpose, in the succeeding chapter, in the form of 
objections and answers, to remove whatever I have heard alleged, 
or that I can anticipate, in relation to the doctrine of the created 
soul of Christ. The unspeakable importance ofthis subject requires 
that we should, by all means, know it aright. By the objections, 
it will be understood, that I speak the sentiments of all persons 
whatever, whether Unitarians or Trinitarians, who affirm either 
that the soul of Christ was solely a created spirit, or that it was a 
created spirit, conjoined with the Godhead. By the answers, I 
state my own opinions, proofs, and arguments. I prefer thus to ex- 
hibit the whole subject in one connected view ; because by going 
over these topics, the mind of a thinking person will be put upon 
a train of examination for himself; and such is now the absence of 
all free and unbiassed consideration of the doctrine of the Godhead 
of our Lord, that, plain as the subject, under the revelation in the 
divine word, really is, it has become a mystery and a darkness. 
Men are afraid to stand upright, and to walk. They grope for the 

* Dan. ii. 34, 35. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 83 

wall as the blind, that they may feel their way by an outward hold, 
and they rejoice when some popular creed or tradition of ecclesias- 
tical authority takes them by the hand to lead them. My earnest 
desire is to awake them from this fatal lethargy, and to arouse 
them to life and action. 



CHAPTER VII. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



Objection 1. The Scriptures call Christ, a man — "the man 
Christ Jesus." 1 Tim. ii. 5. 

Answer. They do so ; but they expressly say, " the second man 
is the Lord from heaven," 1 Cor. xv. 47. 

Objection 2. They speak this of the Godhead which dwelt bodily 
in Him ; for Christ had two souls : the Godhead, and a created soul. 
He is called man as well as God. Nothing can be a man, which 
has not a man's soul, and a man's soul, (in other words, a human 
soul,) means a created soul. 

Answer. In interpreting the Scriptures, we must use scriptural 
words, in the sense in which the holy Spirit employs them. There 
are two senses, in which the Scriptures use the term '^manJ*^ 
1st. The word ^'man,^'^ means merely an organized body of flesh, 
like our outward body, without life, and this is the 'primal sense. 
Thus it is said, " And the Lord formed man of the dust of the 
ground,^''* The mere earthly body, is here called man ; for the 
text afterward states, God " breathed into his nostrils the breath of 
life, and man became a living soul." In the next chapter, the Lord 
says to Adam, " In the sweat of thy face shalt thou eat bread, till 
thou return unto the ground ; for out of it wast thou taken : for 
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." t We here see, 
that the primal sense of the term man, is a mere earthly body of 
flesh, organized in a certain form. For the human spirit is not dust, 
nor does it return to dust. Ecclesiastes recognizes this truth ; for 
his words are, " Then, {at death,) shall the dust (or body) return 

* Gen. ii. 7. t Gen. lii. 19. 



84 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

to the earthy as it was, and the spirit shall return unto Ood, who 
gave it f^* shewing clearly, that the spirit was not taken from the 
ground. The second sense, in which the term " marC' is adopted, 
in the Scriptures, is the union of " a living soul,''^ or a rational, 
volitive, and sensitive spirit, with such an earthly or fleshly body as 
I have mentioned. But this is not the primal sense, but the second 
or spiritual sense. For Paul, in speaking on this subject, gives us 
to understand, that the first Adam, (our common ancestor,) was 
made, or became, a living soul,] only by the last Adam, or second 
man, the God of heaven, quickening him, or breathing " into his 
nostrils the breath of life." The natural, or earthly man, viz : 
the fleshly body, called man, was the first, and, afterward, that 
which is spiritual. These passages, while they enforce this twofold 
meaning of '•^man,^'' also prove the divinity of Christ, " ^Ae last 
Adam^^ who was the quickening Spirit, and set before us the 
typical nature of the earthly and spiritual creations ; viz : to 
exhibit the necessity of the new birth in Christ. For, as born of 
the first Adam, we are typified by earth, or flesh ; but, as born of 
the second Adam, we are " a living souV^ Hence, also, we may 
comprehend the type of Esau and Jacob, " The elder shall serve 
the YOUNGER ;":j: that is, the carnal man is a servant, but the 
spiritual man is a son in his Father's house. 

Therefore, the objection is not well founded, that nothing can be 
called a man, which has not a man's soul. For Adam's body of dust 
is, in the Scriptures, called man, and was so called before it became 
united with a living soul. And beside, an intelligent spirit, when 
united with such a form of body as Adam's, is called, under such a 
union, a man, whether the soul was a created soul, or the eternal 
Jehovah. For example : God appeared to Abram in Mamre, and 
is there called a 7nan, and He ate food, and talked to Abram ;§ He 
appeared to Joshua, and is called a m>an, and captain of the host 
of the Lord ;1| also. He is called a man, when He was seen by 
Jacob at the brook Jabbok.^ The propriety of the name, as applied 
to our heavenly Father, will be manifest, when we consider, that 
man is made in the image and likeness of God, and that, if we are 
like God, God is like us. God, when appearing in our body, is the 
only perfect m,an. All we are finite and imperfect ; but the Lord 

* Eccl. xii. 7. t Compare Gen. ii. 7, with 1 Cor. xT. 45. i Gen. xxv. 23 ; Rom. ix. 12. 
§ Gen. xviii. 1-8. II Joshua v. 13, 14. IT Gen. xxxii. 24. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 8$ 

from heaven is the infinite and spotless exemplar of onr nature, and 
is, therefore, by way of eminence, Man, or the holy One. 

Objection 3. I am aware that God is called man in the Old 
Scriptures ; but this is done under the figure of speech, which we 
call Anthropopathy ; by which, also, human affections and passions 
are attributed to the Deity. We should greatly err, if we understand 
such expressions in their ordinary meaning. Human language 
admits of various interpretations, and we must always adopt that 
rule of construction which accords with the known attributes of 
God, the general strain of Scripture, and the manifest object of the 
divine revelation. The Deity never contradicts, in one part of 
Scripture, what he declares in another, and his word of revelation 
never can differ from his work and providence. We, therefore, 
should distrust every interpretation which, after deliberate attention, 
seems repugnant to any established truth. For who can believe 
that God repents or can suffer 7 He himself says that He is not a 
man, that He should lie, nor the son of man, that He should 
repent.* Any system or doctrine, derived from isolated parts and 
disjointed fragments of Scripture, is sure to be hostile to truth, and 
we must reason about the Bible, precisely as civilians do about the 
constitution under which we live.f 

Answer. I admit the entire validity of this rule of construction. 
It is one which I myself adopt, and from which I desire never to 
depart. But the question is, whether it makes for or against the 
objection which is urged 1 I allege, that it is a weapon in my hand, 
and not against me. 

Search through all the works and providences of God — and what 
do they teach 1 Undoubtedly this, that the Lord is a Being having 
rational, volitive, and sensitive powers, in infinite perfection. But 
rational powers are not rational, unless they have power to reason ; 
nor are volitive powers volitive, unless they have power to will ; nor 
sensitive powers sensitive, unless they have power to feel. To 
abstract from them those very powers, which constitute them what 
they are, is to annihilate them, or to make them nonentities. We 
might as well suppose a stone to be God, or to possess, in infinity, 

* Numbers xxiii. 19. 

1 1 have taken the substance, and, in some portions, the words^ of this objection, from 
Channing's Discourse at the Ordination of Jared Sparks, before cited. But I shall use 
objections from any quarter, without quoting the source j as it is not necessary, and 
might, in connexion with my answers, be invidious. 



86 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

the attributes of perfect reason, will, and sensibility, as to suppose, 
if it were possible^ an inert spirit to be God, having none of the 
faculties or capacities which constitute it rational, volitive, and 
sensitive. What infinity is, we cannot tell. For we can have no 
conception of infinite number, or infinite extension or duration, 
except by putting together, or combining in our imagination, an 
endless succession of known or finite numbers, spaces, or times. 
The idea of the infinity of space, does not destroy the idea of an 
actual known and finite space, circumscribed by our limited vision. 
No. It affirms or sustains that idea ; but it enlarges or carries it 
out, beyond our abihty of sight, to an infinite or boundless extent, 
in all directions, everywhere. So, when we think of a being having 
infinite energy and perfection of reason, will, and sensibility, we 
must not permit our idea of infinity to destroy the conception of 
these characters altogether, but only to enlarge and magnify them, 
without blemish and without end. We know, too, that this must 
be in accordance with fact ; since all the creation, or works and 
providences of God, are nothing but the effects of His energy of 
mind. The mind of God acts, and the creations, or providences of 
God, follow inevitably. If, therefore, you abstract from the Lord, 
the attributes which I have mentioned, you abstract from Him all 
power to do or exercise any act, creation, or providence, belonging to 
such faculties ; for His creation and providences are only visible 
manifestations of the energy of the mind of God. If you bind up 
one by a fate, you bind the other by a fate. If you reduce one to a 
homogeneous mass, you reduce the other to the same unvarying 
condition. Yet, I pretend not to say, how the mind of an eternal 
and infinite Spirit acts, or is exercised ; for my own mind is a 
mystery to Tne^ how much more must be the mind of Deity. All 
that I insist upon, is, that the mind of God is constituted with 
faculties and sentiments like ours ; which, in whatever manner they 
may act as regards Himself are, to us, exhibited, both by His 
works and by His word, as manifested in succession. 

Who is it that will deny this conception of the divine Nature 1 
Will any one say, that God does all things by His omnipotence, 
and that He knows all things by His omniscience, and that He 
loves all good things, and hates all bad things, by His holiness, but 
that He has neither reason, will, nor sensibiUty 1 . What is omnipo- 
tence, but an endowment co-existing with the infinite faculties of an 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 87 

intelligent, eternal Spirit ? What is omniscience, but a fulness of 
all knowledge, co-existing with faculties of knowledge ? What is 
holiness, but a state of mind and will regarding sin with detestation 
and abhorrence, and righteousness with joy and acceptance ? If, in 
a mistaken philosophy, you should abstract from your idea of a 
Supreme Being, faculties of reason, will, and sensibility, you would 
have but a graven image, or, I should rather say, a non-existence^ 
possessing neither omnipotence, nor omniscience, nor holiness, and 
of less active power than a clod of earth. 

Now, what is it, which we read in Scripture 1 Do we read any 
thing there, that does not accord with these attributes, which ought 
to be " the known attributes of God " % Are these attributes of the 
Deity, in opposition to " the general strain of Scripture " 1 Are 
they inconsistent with the manifest object of the divine revelation ? 
Are they taught only 6y a few isolated parts or disjointed frag- 
ments of (Scripture ? Nay ; but on the contrary, are not this char- 
acter and will of God, written on every page of the holy writings, 
from the beginning to the ending of the sacred volume. They 
accord not only with the ^'general strain," but the universal strain 
of Scripture. Not one part merely, but all the parts of the divine 
word assert this truth. And to transcribe these very doctrines upon 
our hearts, with a pen of burning love, is the manifest design of the 
whole revelation and incarnation of our Saviour. 

As respects the other parts in the objection, viz : that God cannot 
repent, and that he is not a man, that he should lie, — they are also 
easily answered. For I admit the rule of construction, that we must 
interpret Scripture according to known truths, and the universal con- 
text of all the parts. The Scriptures inform us — and nature con- 
firms the instruction, that God is not imperfect, but perfect, and 
that he sees the end from the beginning. Therefore when it is said 
of God, that he repents, it is meant only, that the object of which 
he speaks, has changed its character, and has become abhorrent to 
Him ; and that the Lord intends to change His providential deahngs 
in regard to it : not that the Lord is changed ; but that the object 
is changed. Applied to man, the word " repent " means to change 
the mind in consequence of inconvenience or injury, done by past 
conduct ; or from a consciousness of sin ; but when applied to 
the Supreme Being, it means to view with abhorrence, and to change 
the course of Providence in relation to a person or community, who 



88 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

have departed from the divine commandment. Neither has God 
any sin ; but the Lord has hoHness : and therefore sinful men, 
should leave off transgression, and learn to do good, that they may 
be holy as God is holy, or have desires, affections, and sentiments 
like His. The Lord is not like a " corruptible man,^^ but he is like 
a holy man, renewed in the Divine image. And thus every where, 
by the context, and the whole strain of Scripture, you will perceive 
that those passages in the Bible, which speak of God, as different 
from man, carry their own plain interpretation with them, so that 
we need be at no loss about their meaning. But you will find no 
passage contradicting the declaration, that " God created man in 
his own image, in the image of God created He him "* : that is to 
say, a holy man, living by faith in the Lord. 

Objection 4. But does not the very account of the creation of 
Adam, in the image of God, disprove your assertion that the Scrip- 
tures apply the term man, to the mere earthly body ? For in that 
sense, man was not created in the image of God. 

Answer. I reply to you, by your own rule of construction, that 
we must interpret the Scriptures by the whole context ; which I 
admit to be the right rule. For if you examine the context in Gen. 
i. 26-28, you will see that the man made in the image of God, 
was to have dominion over the earth, God does not speak of his 
image or likeness, in reference to the earthly man, or the dead body, 
but in reference to the man made spiritual and holy, by the breath- 
ing of hfe into him ; whereby " rnan became a living soul.^^ As 
I have already stated, the two creations of Adam ; the natural or 
earthly creation, or the old man, and the heavenly or spiritual crea- 
tion, or the new man, are typical of the two conditions of our spirit : 
the first, without faith in Christ, our God, earthly and dead ; — 
and the second, arisen from the dead by faith in Christ, and made 
" a living soul." As our own spirits animate our own dead earthly 
bodies, so Christ, who is God, quickens our dead souls ; for our souls 
are his spiritual body, prefigured by h\s fleshly body : and thence 
also, it is, that our lives are said to be "hid with Christ in God."t 
And this view will enable you further to understand the promise of 
universal dominion to man in Christ. For as the body and its quick- 
ening spirit, when united, are called one, so our souls, which are 
the spiritual body of God, or Christ, are one with him ; and as God 

♦ Gen. 1. 27. t Col. iii. 3. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 89 

has universal doininion, so the promise is to the new man in Christ, 
or God, that He shall have universal dominion ; but not to the earthly 
or sensual man. Read Psalm viii. and Heb. ii. 1-8, with many- 
corresponding passages, and you can have no doubt as to the kind 
of man to whom the promise of dominion is made. I know it is 
generally thought that even wicked and carnal men, have dominion 
over beasts, and over all the earth. But what kind of dominion is 
it 1 The dominion of force and terror ! A curse accompanies it ! 
How far different will be the empire of love, when all intelligent 
creatures shall be united to God by a living faith ; and shall exert 
all their powers to do good, in harmony with the will of their Creator. 

Objection 5. The passage that you referred to in Ps. viii. " What 
is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou 
visitest him ; for thou hast made him a little lower than the an- 
gels" I should use as a text, to prove that Christ is not God. For 
this passage is applied by Paul, in Heb. ii. 9, to Jesus ; and he is 
there also said, to have been made " a little lower than the angels.''^ 
If he were God, he would have been higher than the angels. 

Answer. Higher than the angels he was, for " all things were 
made by Him, and without Him, was not any thing made, that 
was made ;" but yet he humbled Himself, and took upon Himself 
the form of a servant, and was crucified as a malefactor, that through 
the suffering of death. He might be crowned with glory and honor 
as the Saviour of men ; a name more worthy of our love even 
than the name, — the Creator of men. In this sense it was, {as 
the S071 of Mary,) that he was made lower than the angels. 

There is nothing in the present translation of this passage, 
which militates against the divinity of our Saviour. For the 
objection is fully answered by referring the phrase " a little lower 
than the angels,''^ to the condition in which our Saviour was born : 
for he was made subject to the Mosaic law. But although the 
present translation does not interfere, in the least, with the doctrine 
of the Godhead of our Lord, I wish to state my view, as regards 
the right translation of the passage, that others more competent to 
judge than I am, may examine it, and form their own opinions. 

The Mosaic law is said in the Scriptures, to have been received 
" by the disposition of, (messengers or,) angels ; "* for the Jewish 
nation and ordinances were only messengers or angels, to minister 

* Acts. vii. 53. 

12 



90 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

to, and bring in Christ. Our Lord was made, not a little low- 
er than,^^ but "for a short time lower than the angels,'' — that is, 
born under, and subject to the law of Moses. If you examine the 
verse in the original Greek, in Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, and 
also in Ps. viii, in the Septuagint, from which Paul quotes, I think 
you will find that this translation, which I have suggested, is the 
correct one. And it is helped out by the whole context. For Paul 
is writing to prevent the Judaizing of Christianity, and he shows, 
as he does in Rom. iv., that Christ is no more to be held by the law ; 
for the promise that He should be the heir of the world, was not 
to Abraham or his seed, through the law, but through the right- 
eousness of /ai^/i."* 

However, this is not material to the objection, which I have been 
considering. I have mentioned it in a former work,t and I repeat 
it here, as it seems to me to render the passage much plainer. 

Objection 6. If God could experience successive operations of 
mind, affections, emotions, or sensibilities, such as belong to men, 
He would be mutable, which is contrary to His nature and perefction. 
God sees and feels all things, past, present, and future, now and 
forever, at once, as an everlasting I am. Nothing can happen to 
Him, by way of succession, or in a series of experiences, in which 
one thing follows another. Hence it is impossible to think of Him, 
as the being who did and suffered the things recorded of Jesus. 

Answer. When a rational, voluntary, and sensitive being, 
reasons, wills, and feels, these are not mutations, but affirmances, 
or executions and continuances of his nature. No being could see, 
know, or feel, all things forever, past, present, and future, as an 
everlasting I Am, without having reason, voUtion, and feeUng, in 
infinite excellence. Having from eternity had them, he never could 
cease to have them ; for such cessation would be a mutation. In- 
finite faculties of this kind must affect or modify, in some manner 
or other, the state of the mind of the being, in whom they inhere ; 
for he who sees the end from the beginning, cannot be surprised by 
new events, as we, whose perceptions cannot penetrate the events 
of a coming hour. I therefore, pretend not to say, what the actual 
state of the mind of the Lord is. It is my opinion, however, that 
he does really experience successive energies or conditions of mind ; 
for all creation is but an outward manifestation of his inward 

* Rom. iv. 13.. Heb. ii. 16. t A Voice to the Jews, 312 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS, 91 

state of mind or feeling. Without a specific energy of the mind of 
God, a creation could not have been made, and with a continuing 
creating energy of the same kind, a like or identical creation would 
forever be going on, without variation. But I do not insist upon 
this point, as it is not necessary. For the objection may be an- 
swered, simply by saying — no matter how it is that the affections, 
emotions, sensibilities, or mental operations of the Deity, influence 
Him ; yet to us, they must all be exhibited as happening in suc- 
cession. And what will convince you, beyond all denial, of this 
truth, is the fact, that in the old Scriptures this is the precise way, 
in which we are made acquainted with the worksj the providences, 
and the mental operations of Jehovah^ before his incarnation. 
The history of Jesus, in the pillar of flesh, is only a repetition of 
the History of the God of Israel, in the pillar of fire and of cloud. 

Objection 7. What you say may all be right, except as regards 
actual suffering. But there is something abhorrent to me, in the 
idea of God's suffering. It makes me shudder. I cannot abide 
the thought, and when you speak of the Godhead enduring the 
cross^ you seem to me to utter most horrid blasphemy. 

Answer. We must not always trust io feeling ; for mere feeling 
is blind. The Jews gnashed with their teeth at Jesus, and took up 
stones to stone Him, because that He, being a man, made Himself 
God, and no doubt, they felt a great shuddering and abhorrence, 
at the supposed blasphemy. But I am not aware that a belief that 
our heavenly Father is a partaker of our nature, would make us 
any more apt to give offence to Him. 

Why should not God be able to suffer? You may say that 
infinite power cannot be acted upon adversely by a finite agent, 
and I grant that this cannot be done unless the infinite Being should 
condescend to humble Himself, and to submit His sensibility to 
the infliction. What is your opinion of infinite power or perfection 
in a spiritual essence ? Does it consist in insensibility y in callous- 
ness, in inability to feel ? This is very different from the inference 
we should draw, from objects within our observation. For we are 
accustomed to consider things as having less life in proportion as 
they have less sensibility, and infinite life, in my conception, implies 
infinite sensibility. But yet infinite power, conjoined with an in- 
finite sensibility, could always, at its pleasure, defeat or prevent 
pain, by the destruction or modification of the agent producing it. 



92 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



God, however, in the body of Jesus, chose to submit His capacity of 
feeling to the hostile action of man, in order that by this very exhibi- 
tion of His kindred and sympathy with us, and of His unspeakable 
love, He might destroy sin, not by the destruction of man, but by 
salvation. 

If you turn to Colossians i. 24, you will see a text, which, with 
this knowledge of the sensibility of our God, you will be able, 
readily, to understand ; but without such knowledge, it must ever 
remain a mystery. Paul is speaking of the church, or of true 
believers in Christ, being His spiritual body typified by the body of 
His flesh, and raised up from the dead, by faith in God or Jesus, 
and so made one with Him, as a living body is considered one 
with the spirit which dwells within and animates it. Now we 
know, that when there is this union of body and soul, the soul 
sympathizes, in a peculiar manner, with the injuries inflicted upon 
the body or members. Paul, therefore, being a member of this 
church or temple, viz : a part of the collective, spiritual body of 
the risen Lord, speaks, under figure of the body of Christy as 
filling up that which was behind of the afflictions of Christ, in his, 
namely, PauVs flesh and sufferings. Thus, also, I read that pas- 
sage in Scripture, " behold I have graven thee upon the palms of 
My hands ;"* denoting, I presume, the infinite love and sympathy 
of God for His people, figured by His sufferings in the body of His 
flesh upon the cross. In accordance with this doctrine, God, as our 
Saviour, says, "in all their afflictions he was afflicted, and the 
angel of his presence saved them."t 

Objection 8. I never can believe this notion of the sufferings of 
God ? What ! would you have God the most miserable being in 
existence. We used to think of Him as the most happy, and, 
indeed, infinitely happy He must needs be ; but your notions and 
interpretations of Scripture, represent Him as the most oppressed 
and afflicted, and as bearing the griefs and iniquities of us all. We, 
in this bad world, are wretched enough ; but if God is, in very 
fact, crucified with us, we cannot receive aid from such a Saviour ; 
if Christ be God, let Him save Himself. 

Answer. You will concede that God could not be happy unless 
He had sensibility of some sort. Now, consider ; does not a sen- 
sibility to joy from joyous objects or contemplations imply, from a 

* Isaiah xlix. 16. f Isaiah Ixiii. 9. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 93 

moral necessity, a sensibility to that which is the opposite of joy, 
from objects and contemplations which are directly contrary? 
Reflect upon this, and form your candid opinion about it. For my 
part, I cannot see how any sensibility can exist, if it be not acted on 
differently by opposing perceptions. If a being has an infinite sen- 
sibility to happiness from objects of one character, he must have 
an infinite sensibility to the contrary of happiness, from objects of 
a contrary character. God could not enjoy happiness at all, except 
from those very sentiments and feelings, which pierce and wound 
Him, when submitted to the action of causes, entirely different 
from those which produce His delight. God Himself says, that 
He has no pleasure in the death of the wicked ;* but He certainly 
does rejoice in the righteous,t and I might multiply quotations 
from all parts of His word to prove this. So that where sin is at 
all permitted, there can be no ascent to joy by salvation, without a 
descent to the cross, and this cup cannot pass away, neither from 
God nor man; for righteousness is not righteousness, which feels 
not abhorrence at sin, and love, tenderness, justice, and mercy 
cannot exist without compassion for the transgressor, whose sin 
is broken to pieces in his heart, while he himself is saved, " yet so 
as by fire."t 

But it does not follow from this, that God is an unhappy Being, as 
you suppose. For call in your oion experie^ice^ and let that decide 
for you. When you do right, and are afiiicted by the injustice and 
persecution of others ; or are grieved for them in their wretched- 
ness, are you altogether broken and distressed ? Is there not, also, 
a sure and steadfast hope and glory within you, which sustain 
your spirit 1 The martyrs of truth, whose bodies are burned at the 
pile, do they not feel an invigorating power, which enables them to 
triumph over every terror ? I know not how it is, but it is certain 
we have diverse impulses in the mind, at the same time, and while 
some cast us down, others lift us up. The righteous, in the midst 
of afiiiction, rejoice always, and the very operation of their disquiet 
works out for them " a far more exceeding and eternal weight of 
glory."§ If, indeed, you had no hope, but in the strength of man, 
no view but a continuance of the violence, fraud, oppression, blood- 
shed, and misery of the world, as now constituted, you would be 
of all men, most miserable. For with perceptions of the most 

* Ezek. xyiii. 28. t Isaiah Ixt. 19. % 1 Cor. iii. 15. § 2 Cor. iv. 17. 



94 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

excellent truths, you would be doomed, forever, to a deprivation of 
them, and, in despair, would be compelled to witness the horrid 
and exulting victories of death over life, of evil over good, of hell 
over heaven. But you know that a just God reigns, and in His 
power, wisdom, and benevolence you have your hope ; for the 
things which grieve good men grieve Him, and by death He will 
destroy death, or slay the enmity of His adversaries. This you see' 
by faith, and this faith brings hope and joy to you. Yet your 
present pain is, notwithstanding, real ; for you do not cease to have 
an actual perception of existing impressions, simply because you 
perceive a future period when all the enemies of God shall ac- 
knowledge and adore His wisdom. If you are placed in a fire, at 
an nuto-da-fe^ or nailed to a cross, for confessing Christ, your 
knowledge that your murderers will one day become penitent and 
disciples of the same Lord with yourself, although it may modify 
the state of your mind, will not remove your present sensibility. 
Now, carry out this principle to the mind of God, and you can judge 
from your own sensations, that God, who is infinitely wise, pow- 
erful, and holy, must have an infinite source of happiness within 
Himself, which is as far above your capacity of enjoyment, as the 
infinity of God exceeds your littleness. For if the power, wisdom, 
and love of God support you^ and enable you to conquer in the 
midst of afiiictions, must they not still more support H'lm^ and 
yield Him a boundless joy, in the integrity and energy of His own 
holy and mighty Spirit? You have, therefore, within yourself, 
an answer to your own objection : for you are conscious that, at 
one and the same instant, you experience influences of a very 
different character, and that the total condition of your mind is 
formed by the combined operations of your entire nature. 

Objection 9. Grant that the entire nature of God must influence 
and form the total condition of His mind, then I allegfe that Christ was 
not God, or if He were God, that He had two souls ; for the entire 
nature of God is such that the past and the future, forever, and always 
are one eternal present time with Him ; therefore, He must ac- 
tually see the future conversion of the wicked, as if it were eternally a 
present event. This objection is comprehended in my sixth remark. 
But I now reiterate it in this form, owing to the stress which you 
have placed on the supposed sympathy of the Lord. For the 
more I think of it, the more I am persuaded that God, who must, 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 95 

from the necessity of His nature, behold all things as eternally- 
present and existing, cannot be afflicted with grief by a sympathy 
for the calamity of others, which He must see to be at an end, and 
followed by the joy of conversion and righteousness. 

Answer. Might I not retort, upon you, that, upon your scheme, 
all the wickedness of the wicked, before their conversion, would 
then, also, forever, be eternally present in the mind of the Lord, 
detracting from the joy of the Lord, in beholding the righteousness 
of His elect ? For, according to your sentiment, the 'past^ present, 
and future are always and at once, present and existing with 
God, in such a manner that He must regard and feel every thing as a 
present, existing occurrence. But I say not so. You seem to forget, 
that the very foundation of the rule, that all things are present with 
God, is established on this principle, viz: that succession, al- 
though IN ITSELF succession, is ?zo succession in the contemplation 
of an infinite intelligence, before whom countless thousand years are 
as a day or a moment ; although, in the experience of a finite spirit, 
those countless periods might seem almost interminable. The suc- 
cession actually does exist, and must be viewed by the Lord as 
such, who sees all things according to the truth ; notwithstanding 
He does, in a manner incomprehensible to us, see the end from the 
beginning. Man beholds succession, slowly unfolded in all its 
links ; the Deity beholds all those links, inr-succession, at once. 
For the Lord's omniscience cannot pi-eclude Him from seeing, 
knowing, and feeling all things as they actually are. I doubt not, 
however, that His faculties do modify all His state of mind ; for 
even we ourselves, receive relief from one faculty, when we are 
oppressed by the operation or sensibilities of other elements of our 
mind ; tor the righteous never grieve, as if without hope. Yet 
hope or knowledge never makes us insensible to what passes. It 
renders us callous neither to our own sufferings, nor to the suffer- 
ings of others. When we witness the agony of a fellow being, who 
implores our relief, do we ever think of hardening ourselves against 
the impulse of duty and natural affection, by saying, some time or 
other this man will die, and then he will not need our aid and com- 
passion ? A person who can behold the calamities of the human race, 
inflicted by war, famine, and pestilence ; who can see wife, children, 
parents, friends, and country perishing around him ; who can dwell 
upon the thought of generation after generation, for centuries, 



96 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

falling victims to despair and death, and obliterate all feeling from 
his mind, by the meditation, '' what difference does it make, it will 
all be over with them some time or other," would be startled with 
horror at a proposal to try the consistency of his rule upon 
himself, and to subject him^ during some few hours, not to say 
thousands of years, to torture, under the consoling assurance 
that it can make no difference to him, as the longest time will have 
an end ! Men who can exhibit such philosophy at the sight of the 
miseries of others, but who cannot reduce it to practice in their 
own case, give evidence that there is something defective in their 
hearts, and that it is not the presence of religion, but the absence 
of it, which renders them unfeeling. 

And beside, the eternal knowledge of God never does foreshow 
to him, that the wickedness of the wicked, even after their con- 
version, will not leave a mark upon their future destiny. For 
time wasted in iniquity, will always be felt in our character, life, 
and happiness. Each moment of duration has its full duty, and 
lost time can never be restored. There are mansions of different 
capacities in heaven, and the prodigal, who has consumed the 
energies of his mind, exhausted the susceptibilities of his heart, and 
foregone opportunities of improvement, cannot expect, at any period 
of his subsequent existence, to be advanced to that state of perfec- 
tion which he would have attained, had he faithfully and diligently 
discharged, from the beginning, every duty incumbent on him. 

In addition to this, I think I can adduce examples which will 
convince, even the prejudiced, that the assumed dogma is not true, 
that the Lord, from the necessity of His nature, mwsi feel all things 
as eternally present and existing. I do not deny that He foresees 
and foreknows all things ; but I allege that His perceptions of them, 
are notwithstanding, conformed to the precise truth about them, as 
happening in succession. For we all admit, that God is eternal. 
But the creation is not eternal ; for the earth was made only some 
thousand years ago, and you and I, and other men, now living, are 
the children of a few summers. I assert, that there is no necessity 
in the nature of God, that He should, from eternity, have beheld 
either the earth or us as eternally created and existing ; although 
I am fully persuaded that He both foreknew and foresaw us and all 
things. His perfection of knowledge imposes upon Him no neces- 
sity to see, know, or feel things differently from what they are. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 97 

Objection 10. In God '« we live, move, and have our being" ;* it 
is His state or energy of mind, which, as you yourself say, created, 
made, and upholds the heavens and the earth, and all things that in 
them are. Hence, if God suffer, the whole universe of his creation, 
must sympathize and suffer with him ; or be of such a state of mind 
or feeling, as that which He experiences ; the earth would be con- 
vulsed and shaken to atoms ; the sea would be heaved and scatter- 
ed in spray ; the sun, moon, and stars would be extinguished and 
fall from their orbits, and fearful shuddering and horrors would 
seize on all created spirits, and madden or destroy them. For all 
we are substances, adhering, as it were, to His state of mind, and 
deriving our feelings from Him. 

Ansiver. I have in some former passage, said that we are not 
emanations or extended continuances of God, as actual parts of 
Himself ; but we are creations of God. Your objection is disproved 
by the simple fact, that had men do not rejoice in the rejoicing of 
God ; and yet if they, with all other created substances adhere, 
as it were, to the mind of God, as portions of Himself, deriving 
their feelings from Him, they would be sensible to, and experience 
all emotions and energies which exist in Him. Neither do 
good men sympathize with the Lord, as farts of Himself by 
a consciousness identical with His ; but, having a like nature, 
although distinct from His, their character, so far as they are 
conformed to His image, is like the Lord's. The capacity of 
feeling of the Lord, is not an imperfection, but a perfection ; and 
in combination with His high and holy attributes, constitutes Him 
a great God and ruler, able to know, and govern, and uphold His 
works. He has not only infinite capacity of feeling, but He has 
also infinite power and benevolence ; nor is it possible that external 
actions or providences, as resulting from His mind, could take place, 
without that peculiar energy of affection, which accompanies a 
specific condition of will, to call them forth. 

Objection 11. Christ was the see^Z 0/ ^Ae woman. It was the 
seed of the woman that was to bruise the serpents head. This 
must have reference to the soul of Christ; for it was the living 
principle, and not the earthly body, that was to destroy sin. Christ 
is called the Son of man ; he is said to have been m^ade of a 
woman ; he is the seed of Abraham : for Paul applies the promise 

* Acts. xTii. 28. 

13 



98 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

to that same Christ, who was born of Mary, — " And to thy seed, 
which is Christ."* 

Ansioer. Suppose I should answer your objection by proving- 
that Christ was as much the seed or son of Mary, as any human 
being whatever, is the seed or son of his own mother ; what then 
would become of your argument ] 

Flesh cannot beget Spirit. " That which is born, (or made,) of 
the flesh, is flesh, and that which is born of the spirit^ is spirity\ 
The Lord has appointed certain laws, to the instrumentaUty of which. 
He is pleased to conform His providences. He sent Ananias to the 
house of Judas, in Damascus, to inquire for baul of Tarsus, that by 
the putting of the hand of Ananias on Saul, Saul might receive his 
sight, and be filled with the holy Ghost. t There was no necessary 
connexion between that instrumentality, and the spiritual effect ; 
but it pleased the Lord in His sovereign wisdom, to breathe upon 
Saul the spirit of knowledge, at that instant of time, and in appa- 
rent connexion with that cause. If it should be urged, that the 
characters of parents are, as is well known, impressed upon their 
offspring, and that God, if the creation of each infant spirit were his 
own act, would not create an evil temper, I would reply, that 
all through nature, we discern that the general laws of the 
Deity, act for an ultimate good. It is a good law, that there is an 
hereditary transmission of qualities from the parents to the child ; 
because thereby the spiritual condition of families, or the progeny 
of holy people, is immensely and forever advanced in the scale of 
perfectibihty. Men intend to, and do commit evil ; but the law of 
God is meant for good, and to connect in one vast dependence, and 
harmony of increasing excellency, all the children of Adam. 

Christ was not less the ovum or seed of Mary, than any son is the 
seed of his mother. But God quickened that ovum or body of 
Christ, and dwelt therein as the animating principle, instead of 
breathing into it a finite living soul, and thus Mary was the mother 
OF God. For astonishing as it may seem, the God of heaven and 
the Creator of all things, did condescend to be born of woman, taking- 
our form upon Him, and assuming also, therelationof a Son to Him- 
self, that, in His own peison. He might exhibit to His children, {now 
His brethren and joint heirs,) a perfect obedience to that very law 
of holiness, under which he has placed every rational Spirit. 

* Gal. iii. 16. f John iii. 6. t Acts ix. 10-17 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 99 

In former places, I have unfolded the purpose of the incarnation 
and death of our Lord, and it is not necessary to do so here. Suffice 
it to say, that in the acknowledgment of this mystery of Godliness, 
are contained all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.* There 
is no truth, not proclaimed by it ; no love which it does not teach ; 
no divine hope which it does not inculcate. In the cross of God, is 
imbodied the whole revelation of God to man. Whatever prophet 
foretold, or holy men desired ; whatever the laws commanded or 
ordinances prefigured, are accompHshed by that new and living 
way, which God has consecrated for us through His flesh, into the 
most holy place of His sanctuary, there to have fellowship with the 
Father, face to face. 

That I am right in this doctrine of the sonship of Jehovah, in 
that relation which He sustained in the body, is apparent from what 
the Angel declares to the Virgin Mother, ^Hhe Holy Ghost shall 
come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow 
theeJ^ If we reject this miraculous conception of the Virgin, we 
may, with equal incredulity, dismiss at once, all the prophets who 
foretold the advent of God, and all the evangelists and apostles who 
have recorded it. But, by reason of this miraculous birth, our Lord 
was the Son, not only of Mary, but also of God, for mark what 
the Angel says, " therefore, also, that holy thing which shall be born 
of thee, shall be called the Son of God."t From the manner of the 
birth of Jesus, he was the Son of the woman, and also the Son of 
God, and thus this God-Man sustains and fulfils two perfect rela- 
tions, distinct from each other, as to certain considerations, but united 
in a mediatorial union, for the purpose of showing the growth of 
God in man. 

Objection 1 2. You seem, then, not to believe the tenet taught by 
some very learned and illuminated men, that an infant receives, by 
the act of its parents, two souls, a maternal soul, which we may call 
the animal soul, and the paternal soul, which we may call the higher 
and spiritual soul, and that man is really a Trinity of persons in 
unity, as well as God ! 

Answer. I do not know, precisely, what their opinions are on this 
subject ; but I am free to avow, that I care for no doctrine, except it 
comes directly or clearly proven from the Bible. I have heard of 
some philosophers, who are called great and deep thinkers, — great 
lights of the world ; whose minds are filled with mere " Wills with 

* Col. ii. 3. t Luke i. 35. 



100 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

the Wisp,^^ putrescent lights from corrupted thoughts ; wjio are 
little entitled to the praises bestowed upon them. These men attempt 
to revive the old dogmas of Plato, in their extremest absurdity; whereas 
Plato himself, if he were now living, we may believe, would abandon 
his notions. As these mystics do not come to their principles by 
reason, there is but small hope that they will discard them by reason. 
From parts of their works, which I have read, and from what I am 
informed concerning these illuminati, I presume that they hold some 
such fancy as you have mentioned ; but I could never find any thing 
in their systems but words without meaning. 

Is it not folly in any person, to adopt an important principle of life, 
from mere theory or fancy, when so many safer channels exist for 
knowing the truth 1 We cannot create truth ; we must seek and 
find it. If we judge by experience, or by experiment and observa- 
tion, what reason have we for supposing that any man has two 
souls 1 Some persons say, spirit cannot act on matter, nor matter on 
spirit, therefore there must be a third principle, neither spirit nor 
matter, which they call animal life or soul, to act upon both. But 
they only multiply, and do not diminish their difficulties. For what 
kind of an essence is that which is neither spirit nor matter 1 And 
even if there were such an essence, how could that third essence, 
which is neither spirit nor matter, act upon either ; or grant that it 
could act upon either, how could it act at once, upon both ; when, 
not only these two natures, but the three, are so contrary ? The 
mystery is thus made threefold, instead of double. But if any one 
will content himself by trusting to his own consciousness, he will 
know, by the evidence of every day of his life, that spirit does act 
immediately on matter, and matter upon spirit ; and if we deny this, 
we may deny the testimony of all our senses. 

In reply you may assert, that there is an essence, called soul, 
distinct from matter or spirit, viz : the souls of the brute creation, 
and of such animals as approach the physical and vegetable king- 
doms. And you may allege that to hold the opinion that these souls 
are spirit, might lead to the Pythagorean doctrine of the transmi- 
gration of souls, by leaving it possible that what is a rational or 
irrational spirit in combination with one form of organized body, may 
become the opposite of its former character, by passage into another. 
But I would answer as follows : What ground have we for sup- 
posing that all spiritual creatures are of the same genus? On 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 101 

the contrary, have we not every cause for inferring that the cre- 
ations of spirit, differ at least as much as, if not more than, the 
physical creations of the Ahnighty 1 There are three known kinds 
of spiritual attributes, reason, will, and sensibihty ; and whenever 
any one of these attributes exists in different animals or spirits, 
they may be, so far as that resemblance goes, alike ; but all spirits 
are not constituted with them all ; and therefore are forever sepa- 
rated. And even where a likeness does exist, it may be a like- 
ness in nature only, and not in degree. For the higher the degree 
of the quahty, the higher is the excellence. Brutes are not made 
in the image of God, but man is. The image in fallen man, 
which is defaced, is not to be restored, by obliterating the faculty, 
nor by the non-use of it ; but by presenting to it proper subjects, 
and overcoming the heart by love. It is the spirit that is evil, by 
the abuse of its faculties, and not because any faculty is wrong 
in itself. But the doctrine of transmigration, arose from a very 
different principle. For the believers in this notion, contend that 
matter is evil, and is the sole cause of instability, ignorance, depravi- 
ty, and discord ; and that, therefore, the spirit by transmigration, 
into different bodies, is prepared for a re-union with, or an actual 
transformation into God, who is represented as a pantheistic soul. 
The true science of spirit, taught in the Bible, is entirely at war 
with the whole of this heathenish notion of the evil of matter, and 
the transmigration of souls. For brutes cannot assume the facul- 
ties of man ; nor can the faculties of man be annihilated, except 
by the act of God; who, so far from revealing any intention to take 
this course, has signified His determination, to reclaim all perverted 
dispositions to the right love and worship of Himself, that His name 
may be glorified. 

This Pythagorean assumption of the evil of matter, is more 
generally diffused over the existing churches, than might at first be 
supposed. In fact, the doctrine of the animal soul, in distinction 
from the spiritual soul, which I have been considering, is founded 
upon this very principle of heathenism ; and it is difficult to say, 
whether Pythagoras, Plato, or Aristotle has most sway in present 
apostate Christendom ! 

To determine of what principles man is composed, we must turn 
to the Bible. We are there told that man is first an earthly body, 
and secondly a living soul, in the likeness of God. And there is 
no mention whatever of that other soulj which men call the 



103 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

animal soul ! Had there been such a soul made, the Lord would 
have caused his servants to record it, for our instruction, along with 
the other acts of His creation. 

Objection 13. According to your opinion, the seed of the woman, 
which was to bruise the serpent's head, and to which so many 
glorious promises were made, was nothing but a mere outward case 
or shell, to which the infinite spirit gave life and motion ! 

Answer. What is any seed of woman, whether it be the body of 
a peasant or of a king, but a mere outward case or shell, to which 
a spirit gives life and motion ; and surely, you will not esteem it an 
objection against our Lord, that His spirit, instead of being weak 
and finite, as an ordinary personage, is the eternal God of heaven, 
who has all power and knowledge to accomplish His purpose, and 
to save, to the uttermost, those who come to Him ! 

Objection 14. But "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and 
in favor with God and man."* Who ever heard of an increase of 
God? 

Answer. The Colossians did ; for Paul writes to them, — " And 
not holding the head, from whom all the body, by joints and bands, 
having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with 
the increase of God.^t 

The body influences the manifestations of the operations of the 
spirit. In a healthy body, they are more perfect ; in a diseased 
body, they are less so. As the body grows up from infancy to age, 
it exhibits more of the operations of mind. Every plant that grows, 
and the smallest insect that creeps, are exhibitions of the power of 
Deity ; who can vary and accomplish His actions, by such nice and 
uniformly increasing developements, in conformity to any law, that 
we are familiarly accustomed to call His will, the laws of nature, 
and to forget that all things live, and move, and have their being in 
Him. 

The living fleshly body of Christ, as I have repeatedly said, is a 
type or visible representative of the souls of believers, who are 
united to God by a living faith, and who, therefore, form, what is 
called, the one spiritual body of Christ. The operations of the spirit 
of God, are more and more developed in Christian souls, in propor- 
tion to their healthiness and maturity in Christian knowledge and 
experience. We all begin as infants, but increase in spiritual 
wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man, as nourishment 

*Jinkcii.52. f Col. ii. 19 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 103 

is ministered to us, by the increase of the revelation of God, through 
Jesus. Besides, a man is said to increase or grow large, when his 
body grows large. And as Christians are the spiritual body of 
Christ, who is God, therefore God increases, when Christians, who 
are His spiritual body, increase. And this increase can never end, 
until every rational soul shall have been united to Him by a living 
faith ; for His body, must fill " all in all."* Or rather the increase 
of Christ, never can, by any possibihty, under His gospel, have 
an end. For even when all souls shall believe in Him, they 
will proceed through eternity, in the acquirement continually 
of new knowledge of the infinite fulness of God, by the divine 
revelation. 

Objection 15. Paul says that there will be an end ; for he says 
" then Cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the king- 
dom to God, even the Father."! And in a few verses afterward he 
adds : " And when all things shall be subdued unto Him, then 
shall the Son also. Himself, be subject unto Him, that put all things 
under Him, that God may be all in all:j:." 

Ansioer. By intepreting the whole Scriptures, together, we shall 
find no diflSculty on this point. 

Isaiah says, " For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given, 
and the government shall be upon His shoulder, and His name shall 
be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting- 
Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of His government 
and PEACE, there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and 
upon His kingdom, to order it, and to establish it, with judgment 
and with justice, from henceforth, even for ever. '^^W Daniel saysy 
(speaking of the Son of Man,) " His dominion is an everlasting 
dominion, lohich shall not pass aivai/."§ Paul quoting from David, 
writes to the Hebrews, thus : — " But unto the Son he saith, thy 
throne, O God, is forever and ever"% It is useless to cite more 
passages of this kind ; for they are abundant. Therefore we know 
that the kingdom of Christ, will actually never have an end. 

But, in one sense, there will be an end ; for there will be an end 
to sin, or spiritual death, and, when this consummation is accom- 
plished, then comes an end to the warfare of Christy with Satan, 
but not before ; for He will never cease till He shall have subjected 
the last enemy. This He has proved, by the resurrection of His 

* Eph. i, 23- t 1 Cor. xr. 24. t Verse 28. 

11 Isai. ix. 6, 7. § Dan. tU. 14. IT Heb. i. 8. 



104 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

dead body from the grave. Remember, that His dead body is a 
type of the dead souls of men; as His living body is a type of 
living, or believing souls. Now, if Christ be preached, that He 
raised up His dead body^ how can any one doubt, that " as in Adam 
all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive ?" But every man 
in his own order. And the end, or completion, of the resurrection 
from the dead, or of Christ's dead body, will not have come, until 
Christ shall have brought all His adversaries to the knowledge and 
love of the Father, and so have reconciled all things to Himself » 
At that day, " they shall teach no 'more, every man his neighbour, 
and every man his brother, saying, know the Lord ; for they shall 
all knoio me, from the least of them unto the greatest of them, saith 
the Lord : for I will forgive their iniquity, and remember their sins 
no more."* It is in harmony with this sentiment, that Christ says 
to His disciples, " At that day, ye shall ask in m,y name, and I say 
not unto you, that 1 will pray the Father for you : for the Father 
him^self loveth you, because you have loved me, and have believed 
that I came out from God."f When all shall see Christ and God, 
as one, they then see God /ace to face : God is ^^ all in all,''^ and no 
intercessor is needed, when all are one by love. The warfare being 
then accomplished, and the fulness of the one spiritual body of the 
rise?i Christ being co-extensive with the e7itire rational creation of 
God, the Son will thus be subject to the Father ; in other words, as 
Paul elsewhere says, "Yea, though we have known Christ a/if er 
the flesh, yet now, henceforth, know we Him no more : therefore, 
if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are 
passed away ; behold, all things are become nei^."| And when 
all things are become new, not only with some men, but with all 
men, then Christ, our God, having ended His work, which He had 
made, will rest in an eternal Sabbath of peace. 

But still, "of the increase of His government and peace 
there shall be no end ;" for perpetually, as the indwelhng and 
quickening spirit of His Church, Body, or Neio Jerusalem, (viz : 
the souls that form His spiritual body,) He will enlarge Himself 
more and more forever, by an increase of the revelation of His 
infinite fulness. 

Objection 16. Christ is called the Head of the Church. If He 
is the head, or the chief part of the body, how can he also be the 

* Jer. xxxi. 34. f John xri. 26, 27. :j: 2 Cor. v. 16, 17. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 105 

soul, or the quickening spirit ? He says, the Father is greater than 
/. How can Christ be God, and yet inferior to God ? He prayed 
to the Father. If Christ were God, why did He pray to Himself] 
Christ is said to be sent by God, and is called the anointed of God ; 
as in the passages, " God sent His Son ;" " God anointed Jesus." 
How inexplicable is this language; God sent Himself — God 
anointed Himself! 

Ansioer. The relations which Christ sustains are twofold, and 
each one is perfect in itself, viz : a perfect human relation, and a 
perfect divine relation. According to the fleshy He is man, but, in 
Spirit, He is God. Yet, as the body, or flesh, modifies the outward 
exhibitions of the actions of the mind or spirit, so that the hving 
action of a spirit and body, when existing in union, is a modified or 
relative life or action ; therefore, also the exhibitions of the Godhead 
in the body of Christ, [lohether his first earthly hody^ or our 
soulsj lohich are his second, or spiritual body,) are not, and cannot 
be, equal to the unrevealed fulness of Jehovah. For every revelation 
must be conformed to the capacity of the creature to whom it is 
made, an(f no finite intellect or recipient can comprehend or receive 
infinity. In this sense, the Father is always greater than the Son. 
Since, in order to make any revelation whatever of Himself, the 
Father must veil His infinity, and limit or bound His appearance by 
a finite form ; which, however, He may continually cause to 
increase, as a type, by the same laws which He has imposed upon 
every son of man. 

The hfe of Christ, in His body, although entirely perfect, and 
wanting tin nothing, so far as it ivent, did not exhibit the fulness 
of His Spirit. For He began as an infant, and unfolded Himself 
gradually, and, even at His death, the infinite fulness of His Spirit 
was still unrevealed and unrevealable, and all that He had then 
done, and was doing, bore not so much proportion to the infinity of 
His power, wisdom, and holiness, as the weakness of a new-born 
babe bears to the maturity of a full-grown man. This follows from 
what I have said. For the entireness of infinity never can be 
revealed to any finite being. Yet, notwithstanding all this, the 
example which Christ set, in His body, is entirely perfect in every 
particular, being altogether without spot, blemish, or imperfection 
of any kind, from His birth to His death, and is the Head of the 
Church ; for no one can equal it, to say nothing about surpassing it. 
14 



106 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

Had it been possible for Christ to have exhibited His nature, and 
atoning love, in any other way than by His death on the cross ; 
that is to say, had it been possible for Him, without dying, to over- 
come death ; then, had He lived for many years afterward in His 
body of flesh, exhibiting His spiritual perfections, He, Himself, would 
have done greater works than those which He did. For His 
revelation does not decrease, but increases by time. And whenever 
we shall behold God, in His highest heaven, surrounded by His 
disimbodied and pure angels, that example of His, which will be 
only an increased growth of the principles begun by Him, in the 
flesh, will be the Head of the Church ; although forever, it will and 
must be less than His fulness. It is, for this reason, that Christ 
says to his disciples, " He that beUeveth on me, the works that I do 
shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do ; 
because I go unto my Father."* Christ was to go aivay, and not 
remain with His brethren ; for He was to be put to death, and to 
prepare a place for the faithful ; therefore, His revelation of Himself, 
in His spiritual hody^ would exceed the revelation of Himself, in 
Bas fleshly body. But, always, His own example is the Head of 
the Church. 

Christ, in His human relation, in the flesh, as the seed of Mary, 
and the representative of the whole race of Adam, whose body He 
carried, prayed to Himself, because He was subject to the law, and 
had to perform all righteousness as a Son to Himself : and how 
could He be our exemplar, and captain of salvation, without prayer 
and obedience % He prayed to Himself, because He could pray to 
none greater, and, for this reason, also, " because He could swear hy 
no greater y He sivare by Himself. ^^t 

Both in the Old and the New Scriptures, the presence of God, in 
a manifestation of Himself is called the Angel, or the Messenger 
of the presence of God. Read Gen. xxii. 1 — 18, and you will see 
there, that the presence of God himself, is called " the Angel of the 
Lord." In Exodus, when God speaks to Moses, he says, " I send 
an angel before thee," and, "mine angel shall go before thee."| 
But it was God himself who went with Israel in the pillar of fire 
and of cloud. For when the promise is repeated, the Lord says, 
"My presence shall go with thee."ll Isaiah, referring to this, 

*■ John xiv. 12. f Heb. vi. 13. % Exodus xxiii. 20-23. 

II Exodus xxxiii. 13. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 107 

calls the Lord, in this manifestation of Himself, "Me angel of His 
presence. ^^* Paul also speaks of this, and identifies that angel 
as Christ: his language is, "For they drank of that spiritual 
Rock which followed them, and that Rock was Christ."! This 
accords with what Malachi says, " Behold, I will send my messen- 
ger," (alluding to John the Baptist,) " and he shall prepare the 
way before me," (meaning God, viz : Christ,) " and the Lord, 
whom ye seek, shall suddenly come to His temple, even the 
Messejiger of the Covenant, whom ye delight in,":}: meaning the 
angel of the pillar of fire and of cloud. So that, by pursuing 
the good rule of interpreting the whole context together, we need 
not stumble at the meaning or right application of words. I might 
cite numerous instances of this form of speech, but it is unnecessary. 
The Scriptures are filled with such expressions. And very properly: 
because any outward form or manifestation of the presence of Deity, 
which we behold, although it inwardly, in spirit, contains the ful- 
ness of God, is only a finite representation, suited to our capacities. 
The word, " anointed," is applied to such an angel of the divine 
Presence, as the anointing oil is typical of royal power and priestly 
sanctity. The bodj/ of Christ was the temple of God, viz : of 
Christ, and was anointed with the oil of holiness. 

Objection 17. But Christ is said to be at the right hand 
of God. 

Answer, Ecclesiastes says, " a wise man's heart, is at his right 
hand; but a fool's heart is at his left*':]! spoken figuratively, to 
denote that what a wise man concludes to do, he does it with dili- 
gence ; and also to signify honor and advancement. For Christ, 
in His human relation, having fulfiled all holiness, is seated at 
the right hand of the divine power and glory. 

Objection 18. Christ shed His blood, and shed tears : He 
hungered, slept, and died. God has no blood nor tears, and cannot 
hunger, sleep, nor die. 

Answer, My spirit has no blood, nor tears : but the body in 
which my spirit dwells, has ; and the blood and tears of my body, 
are my blood and tears. When a spirit and body are united ac- 
cording to certain laws, the spirit is conscious of feelings arising 
from the fact, that the body needs nourishment to supply its 

* Isaiah Ixiii. 9. f 1 Cor. x. 4. :j: Malachi iii. 1. 

II Eccl. X. 2. 



108 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

waste. God chose to unite Himself with a body subject to those 
laws. But even in the Old Scriptures, God is represented as eating 
with Abram in Mamre, as before cited, when I was speaking on 
that subject.* The sleep of the body is a rest or repose, intended 
to restore its power, by what are called natural laws. The mind 
may, or may not be unconscious during sleep. The mind of God 
needed no repose : nor, from its infinity, could it cease to retain all 
power : and as this is a known and revealed attribute of the Lord, 
therefore, in this respect, we must interpret Scripture in conformity 
with the known power of God. When Jesus slept, it is not meant 
that the spirit of Christ, or the indwelling fulness of God slept ; 
but that the body was in repose by sleep. For when the disciples 
of Christ waked Him during the storm and said, " Master carest 
thou not that we perish," He " rebuked the wind and said unto the 
sea, peace, be still ; and the wind ceased, and there was a great 
calm ;" but he also said to them, " why are ye so fearful ; how is 
it ye have no faith" ?t Had the infinite spirit slept, they would 
have had cause to fear : hut that was impossible ; for as I admit, 
under the 3d objection, we must, in interpreting the Scriptures, 
always adopt that construction which accords with the known 
attributes of Jehovah, the general strain of Scripture, and the mani- 
fest object of the revelation. 

Concerning the other part of the objection, that Christ died, I 
call attention to what I before stated on this subject. Mt/ spirit 
does not die, at death, but only the body ; or rather a separation 
takes place between soul and body : and therefore God or Christ 
died, when the union of soul and body was dissolved on the cross. 

Objection 19. But if Christ were God, where was all the residue 
of God, during the incarnation ? where was the divine fulness and 
omnipresence 1 Was all the rest of the universe left without a God ? 

Answer, You might make such an objection against any reve- 
lation whatever of God. For as God is infinite, and infinity can 
never display the fulness of itself to any creature, therefore, when- 
ever God appears to a creature, under any revelation, the crea- 
ture might say, ''I do not believe that you are God ; for if you 
are God, where is the rest of your infinite fulness : have you left 
the rest of the universe, without your upholding power and gov- 
erning care ; if this that you have shown me of yourself, is aU 

* Gfin. xviii. 8. t Mark 'vr, 38-40- 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 109 

of yoiij then you are not God, for God is infinite, and if this be not 
all ofi/oti, then you are acting deceitfully to me,, by representing 
yourself to me as God, when I am well sure that God must knoia, 
feel, and do an infinite number of things, beside those which you 
manifest, and must be every where else, as well as here : therefore 
as you cannot at once exhibit to me the entireness of Jehovah, I 
will not hear you." The manifestation of the presence of God, 
might, indeed, answer to such objections ; " no revelation can be 
made to you, except under laws which are conformed to your own 
mind and powers of perception ; therefore this manifestation or 
body, is born by the poiver of the highest, and for that reason, is 
called the J^on of God : bat it does not, and cannot exhibit to you 
the infinity of Jehovah ; and therefore it is, that I say, the Father 
or the power of the Highest, is greater than this manifestation ; but 
yet it is the Father who dwells in this manifestation, or in this 
angel of His own divine Presence which is sent by Him, for com- 
municating a true and increasing knowledge of Himself; and 
hence, it is that I say, I and the Father are one, and he who sees 
me, sees the Father^'' As no form of words can check the obduracy 
of a cavilling and deceitful heart of enmity, such a manifestation of 
the divine Presence, might only increase the evasions of a sinful 
and unbelieving creature, by any explanation of the divine message. 
For any declaration of the Lord, may be tortured into self-contra- 
dictions and absurdities. 

God dwelt in the pillar of fire and of cloud ; God dwelt in the 
tabernacle : He dwelt in the temple, which Solomon built ; He 
dwelt also in the pillar of flesh and of blood, called the body of 
Christ, or. His " temipU^* and " altaf :t but although the fulness 
of the Godhead, dwelt in each, yet the fulness of the Godhead was 
also, and at the same time, full and perfect every where else : for 
when He was manifest, as in bodily presence, in the pillar of fire 
and of cloud, in the desert, He was also in full bodily presence, 
government, and holiness, in Canaan, in Egypt, and in the highest 
heaven, and in the lowest hell. 

If I should say to you, that yonder modest violet, which blooms 
in humble retirement, by the shaded bank of the brook, is the 
workmanship of the infinite power of God, you might, on the prin- 
ciple of the objection last mentioned^ answer, '' that cannot be so ; 

*Johnii.21. t Heb. xiii. 10. 



110 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

for if infinite power made that plant, where is the rest of infinity ; 
the plant does not manifest it !" So the manifestation of the bodily 
presence of God, of His actual self grows up before us, in the 
person of the child Jesus, "as a tender plant, and as a root out 
of a dry ground ;"* and the infidel believes not the report, but 
contemptuously asks, "where is the rest of the Godhead!" 

Objection 19. Christ says, " not my will, but thine, be done ft 
He says, moreover, " to sit on my right hand and on my left, is not 
mine to give, but it shall be given to them for whom it is prepared of 
my Father ]X speaking of the Son of Man coming in clouds, with 
power and glory. He says, <' but of that day and hour knoweth no 
man, no, not the angels which are in Heaven, neither the Son, but 
the Father ; § and on the Cross, He exclaims, «' my God, my God, 
why hast thou forsaken me."ll 

Answer. Bear in mind, that Christ came, not to do any act as 
proceeding from Himself, by a new or recent purpose or counsel, in 
His human relation, distinct, dissevered, or disparted from thsit pre- 
ordained way, which He Himself, in His relation as the Father, had 
in the Scriptures prepared and foretold concerning Himself , but 
only to carry out and fulfil or execute all righteousness, as it had 
been written. He could, in consistency with His own word or 
promise, and moral perfections, do nothing in that human relation^ 
as the son of Mary, and a type of every child of Adam, but in the 
W3Y prepared beforehand. As all Israel heard the law, so Christ 
heard it, and by that same laio He judged all things, and acted out 
His mission. He did, and He said nothing else, but what Moses 
and all the prophets had declared should come to pass. There- 
fore it was, because his law and life were declared and published^ 
and because He did nothing, as by a recent or disjointed scheme or 
counsel, that in His human relation, He could 7iot bear witness of 
Himself: but the works that He did, bore witness of Him : inas- 
much as the'i/ were the very works, which, as had been foretold long 
before. He was, in His relation as man, to accomplish. Had He not 
been thus true to His own fore-ordained ond foretold determination, 
His judgment would not have been just, and the Jews would have 
had an excuse or justification for their want of belief But as 
Christ was only a fulfilment of Moses and the prophets, the Jews 

* Isaiah liii. 2. f Luke xxii. 42. X Matthew xx. 23. 

§ Mark xiii. 32. || Matthew xxvii. 46. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. Ill 

hated and rejected Him without a cause, and the very prophecies 
and laws, in which they sought their defence^ were their con- 
demnation. 

If you keep these two distinct relations constantly in view, the 
divine relation as the Father, and the human relation as the Son, 
you will have no difficulty in understanding any of these passages 
in Scripture. For God is the animating or quickening Spirit of 
the whole universe, and all we are his body : ''/or in Him we live 
and move^ and have our heingP He imposes no law of holiness 
upon us, but that to which He Himself, from the moral perfection of 
His essence, is subject, and neither can He, in His human relation, 
nor can any child of Adam, ascend to His kingdom, nor sit on His 
right hand, nor on His left, in that kingdom, but in the identical 
way prepared, according to the prophecies which went before, con- 
cerning Him, viz : by drinking from the cup, and being baptised 
with the baptism of Christ. If you read candidly the whole con- 
text of the passage, (Matthew xx. 20-28,) where this subject is men- 
tioned, you will see clearly, that this is the meaning of our Saviour. 
Even the Son of Man, viz : God in the flesh, is subject to the same 
law, with His humblest follower, and we must not expect to enter 
His kingdom, except in the appointed way. 

The justness of these remarks, appears even under the present 
translation of the passage which you have quoted from Matthew ; 
but if you turn to the original Greek, you will see that the true 
version is this : ^^to sit on my rights and on my left^ is not mine 
to give, but to whom, it is prepared by my Father J^ You have 
only to turn to the original, to be convinced that I am right ; for it 
is a very plain text. In this sense, it coincides, also, with what our 
Saviour says, in Matthew xi. 27-30, " all things are delivered unto 
me of my Father, and no man knoweth the Son but the Father ; 
neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whom- 
soever the Son will reveal him. Come unto me, all ye that labor, 
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke 
upon you, and learn of me : for I am meek and lowly in heart, 
and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy and 
my burden is light." 

Besides, every one who has read the Scriptures, knows that Christ 
did and does appoint every man to the place which each one held or 
holds in the church. For He called to Him whom he would, and 



112 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. . 

He ordained them, and sent them forth, as He pleased, and this was 
putting them at His right hand in His kingdom * "And He 
gave some apostles, and some prophets, and some evangelists, and 
some pastors and teachers, for the perfecting of the saints, for the 
work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ."! 
Those whom He advances, are not placed at His left hand, but at 
His right hand, and " the mother of Zebedee's children, with her 
sons," knew not what they asked ; as Christ Himself says to them. 
Some persons, possibly, may imagine from what our Saviour 
said, in His agony, in the garden, " Father, if thou be willing, 
remove this cup from me : nevertheless, not my will, but thine be 
done,"t that our Lord was, in His heart, unwilling to die for 
man. But if we judge of the meaning of this passage by all the 
context, and by comparison with all the other portions of Scrip- 
ture bearing on this point, we can hold no such belief For He 
knew what was to happen, and had no intent to avoid the death, 
which He came on purpose to suffer, " that through death, He might 
destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil." § Had 
He not been willing to die, He could instantly, by the word of His 
power, have smitten His enemies to nothing, or have ascended from 
them : hut^ (as he says to his disciples,) how then shall the Scrip- 
tures be fulfiled, that thus it must be. "II In His human relation, 
clothed with our body, viz : with the ^'- first Adam," (and all the 
race of man in the loins of Adam,) as our representative. He makes 
the prayer in the garden for our edification, in order firmly to im- 
press upon us, the conviction that it was not possible for man to be 
saved in any other mode than by the Cross. For had it been pos- 
sible for the Father, or the power of the highest, to have permitted 
that cup to passj and yet to save mankind, the cup would have 
passed. This we cannot doubt. Therefore it was Christ's will, 
or, in other words, it was God's will, that the cup should not pass 
from Him. From the union of the infinite Spirit with the body of 
flesh of Christ, under those mysterious laws, which, however 
incomprehensible to us, we know, from our own consciousness, 
enable matter to communicate pain to the Spirit, we may conceive 
that the death of God on the Cross, would be attended with agony 
immensely beyond any thing which a mere finite Spirit could 
endure. Beside, the agony of Christ in the garden, was accompa- 

* Mark iii. 13, 14. f Eph. iv. 11-12. X Luke xxii. 42. 

§ Hebrews ii. 14. || Matthew xxyi. 54. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 113 

niedj also, with the strong sympathy, which, in His infinite love and 
holy pity, He felt for all the family of man, whom He bore in His 
body, under the type of His flesh, which was, as already said, an 
emblem of the ^^ first Adam :" for this typical character of the 
fleshly or terrestrial body of Christ, is so clearly and expressly set 
forth, in so many and such unequivocal texts of Scripture, that I 
see not how any candid and attentive reader can doubt it. And if 
His body were a type of man, do you not perceive how strong the 
sympathy was in the heart of God, filled with infinite love, for the 
lost race whom He came to save from the power of evil ; a sym- 
pathy so unutterable, that it could only, even in part, be expressed 
by His clothing Himself with us, as our own spirits are invested 
with our own bodies, making, as it were, a unity by coalescence ! 
Man may talk of love and of sympathy, but what are they in his 
breast, compared with the love and compassion of Him, whose 
nature is without limit ? The bosoms of all the mothers, that have 
ever existed, if their affections were combined in one, would expe- 
rience but a slight impulse, in comparison with the tender mercy 
and sympathizing benevolence of the Deity ! For His own sake, 
as well as for the sake of His brethren, with whose flesh He was 
invested. He did not desire to endure the agony of the Cross ; but 
would have preferred, had it been possible, that all sin and suffering 
should have been put away at once, and forever, without pain. 
But, though all things are possible with God, nothing is possible 
with Him, which involves a self-contradiction. A creature, having 
a beginning in time, cannot be an uncreated eternal being, self- 
existent from eternity, and having life in himself, and the only way 
for him to live in harmony with holiness, without which, neither 
God nor man can be happy, is to be engrafted on God, by a living 
faith, as the body makes one with the Spirit. If the Deity should 
permit man to live in sin, the constant contemplation of that sin, 
would be a perpetual cross to God. Yet can man, as a free agent, 
be saved only by the Lord's making an exhibition of good and evil, 
and submitting them to our free choice. God, therefore, in order 
that sin might appear altogether sinful, and that His own nature and 
character might appear altogether lovely, came into the world 
" not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life a 
ransom for many."* The cup of suffering, which was held forth 

* Matt. XX. 28. 

15 



114 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



to Him, and to the whole race of man, was not preferred or chosen 
for itself, bat for its effects ; for no affliction is, in itself, joyous, but 
grievous, although it yields happy fruits afterwards. And Christ, 
who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth, " suffered for 
us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow His steps."* For 
as He, in His relation as the Son of Man, yielded obedience to the 
divine law, so must we, by faith in the Lord, take up our Cross 
and follow Him. We must not permit that will, which the flesh 
has a tendency to excite in us, to militate against that perfect will 
or law of love, or of the higher faculties of the mind, which i& 
acceptable to God. 

For our sakes, therefore, was that prayer made in the garden, as 
a means of impressing divine truth upon us, and not for the sake of 
Jesus, who had all power in Himself, and knew all things. For 
this reason, also. He prayed at the grave of Larazus, as He Himself 
says, viz : " because of the people which stand by, I said it, that they 
might believe that thou hast sent me."t Again, in another place. He 
says, ''now is my soul troubled, and what shall I say ? Father 
save me from this hour : but for this cause came I to this hour."* 
And when the voice from heaven was, on this occasion, heard, 
Jesus said, " this voice came not because of me, but for your 
sakes."t It is impossible, therefore, to form the slightest opinion 
that Christ, at any time, had a desire, (all things considered^) to 
avoid the death which He came on purpose to suffer. 

The text extracted from Mark xiii. 32, that no man, nor the 
angels, nor the Son, but the Father, knows the day and hour of the 
coming of the Son of Man, I am convinced, is very greatly misunder- 
stood. Christ did know it ; for He knew all things, and needed 
not that any should testify of man. § But what may appear sur- 
prising to persons who have taken a hasty notion of the ^^ second 
coming ^'^ I allege that all Christians, who are in the faithful ob- 
servance of watching and prayer, may know the time. For what 
is this " second coming^'^ but a coming typified by the Levitical 
high priest, coming from the second veil^ out of the Holy of Holies, 
after he had entered therein hy Mood 7 Thus Christ, being our 
high priest, having entered by His own blood into the holy place, 
comes again from the second veil, without sin, unto salvation, as 
the Comforter, or Spirit of Truth, declaring the judgment of God 

* 1 Peter ii. 21. t John xi. 42. t John xil 27-30. § John ii. 25. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 115 

to the people. This is the demonstrable meaning of the phrase, 
the second coming or advent of Christ. And it is, and must be, 
an inward spiritual coming to the heart and to the conscience. But 
yet, all inward or mental conditions of the world have, also, their 
outward corresponding corporeal or bodily conditions ; for the body- 
acts upon the mind, and the mind upon the body, and if you will 
look through history, you will discover that the outioard condition 
of a nation, of an age, or of the world, is always in comformity 
with, or under modification by the inward condition, or the state 
of mental, and moral, or spiritual knowledge and practice.* Hence 
you will see the signs of the times toithin and without ; for every 
inward revolution is accompanied with its outward revolution. At 
the approach of a captivity, the Sun of righteousness becomes 
darkened, and the moon, or the church, deriving her light from the 
«Sun, is turned into blood ; she reflects death and not life. This is 
a fearful inward sign, and must soon be followed or accompanied 
with its appropriate outward condition in political, social, and 
domestic life. On the contrary, as the time of deliverance draws 
near, the Sun of righteousness resumes His proper light, and the 
church emits a true and saving influence upon the earth. Then 
comes a happy revolution. For now Israel is delivered, but Egypt 
or tyranny and evil are destroyed, and the effects, you will perceive, 
also, in the outward condition of the world ; for the old and cor- 
rupt spiritual or idolatrous dynasties will pass away, together with 
the oppressive abuses in national, social, and family government, 
and love will be introduced in the place of hate. The '' second 
coming''' of Christ, may, therefore, be applied to each man singly, 
in regard to his own individual experience ; or to a city or nation, 
in regard to the providences of the Lord, by reason of its conduct ; 
or to an age of the world, as denoting an immense and entire 
revolution or new era in the churches, (viz: the heavens,) and 
nations, (viz : the earth.) But in each case, to judge aright, we 
must not begin by looking without and saying " lo here^'' and " lo 
there,^^ but by searching m^Am ; for the root of the change is seated 
in the heart, or the mind of the world ; neither can any person 

* Gibbon's excellent History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, very ably 
and candidly illustrates this great truth. How exceedingly well did the inward condition 
of base Rome, correspond with her outward condition, when Alaric marched to Rome, 
A. D. 408. Her outward slavery was a necessary consequence of her inward slavery. 

[4 Gibbon's Rome, 82-lOS 



116 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

know the day nor the hour, except by inward watching^ and prayer. 
And then in an apostate age of church and state, when some cer- 
tain men, with the eye o{ renewed faith and knowledge, shall see that 
the man of sin, or the abomination of desolation, viz : Anti-Christ, 
and not Christ, is the spirit of the existing churches, the wise will flee 
from that false faith, and take refuge in Christ ; and this is a second 
coming of Christ, with deliverance and salvation to His elect, but 
destruction to the unbelieving. Emphatically it is styled a '' second 
coming ;" not because in its nature, it, at all, differs from the 
" second coming^^ of the Spirit of Christ, from the Holy of Holies, 
to each believer, making clean and renewing his heart ; but from 
its introducing a new era in the entire world, 

Christ warns His disciples, that they should watch and pray, and 
take heed to themselves, with the very intent that that day might 
NOT come upon them unawares.* For as a snare, it comes to 
the sleeping and the unfaithful^ but not to the faithful. So 
the deluge did not take Noah unawares, but it did take and 
destroy, unawares, the wicked mockers who despised God, and 
regarded only their vain business, their empty pleasures, and their 
false hopes. t 

Christ knew the day : all Christ's real and faithful disciples, if 
such were living, might also know the actual spiritual condition of 
the churches and nations, and although they might not know the 
particular period of outward occurrences, they would discern the 
inward spring from which they arise : but Christ knew, that when 
He should come again to judge the nations, He would not ^^find 
faith on the earth^^^X ^^"^ He foresaw that the earth would be in a 
state of " death and hellP 

See what Christ says to the church of Sardis. "Remember, 
therefore, how thou hast received and heard, and hold fast and 
repent. If, therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee 
(is a thief and thou shalt not know what hour I will come on 
thee."§ Christ knows His own heur; all true Christians may 
know it, and it is only to those who sleep in sin, and worldly 
pleasures, and cares, that the coming of the Son of Man, is as a 
thief in the night. 

When, therefore, Mark says, that not the Son, but the Father, 
knows the day and hour of the coming of the Son of Man, he must 
mQd^Wy judging of his sense hy the whole context ^ and all other 

* Luke xxi. 34. t Matt. xxiv. 37-39. % Luke xTiii. 8. § Rer. iu. 3. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 117 

farts of Scripture^ that our Lord, in His appointed human relation^ 
was not ordained to declare that day and hour, except in the 
spiritual manner predestinated by the Father, viz: by inward 
watching and faithfulness. 

By the angels^ in the text quoted, I do not understand the dis- 
imbodied angels or spirits in God's spiritual heavens ; but the Jewish 
nation, who were set apart or appointed, as angels or messengers, to 
bring in Christ. Neither could the Jews, under the dispensation of 
tihe temple ; nor can Jews or Gentiles, under the dispensation of the 
Son of Man, know the day or hour of the divine visitation, 
except by inward watchfulness, and prayerful diligence, in all the 
appointed ways of the Lord ; in other words, to sit on the right 
hand, and to know the counsels of God, is not His to give, except 
to those to whom it is prepared by the Father. 

This application of the word " angels," to the Jews, is not mate- 
rial to the answer of the objection which I am considering ; but I 
mention it, for the consideration of my readers. 

I come, now, to the remaining clause in this objection ; namely, 
the exclamation of Christ upon the cross, " My God, my God, why 
hast thou forsaken me ?" 

Solomon built a temple, or house of habitation, for the Lord, and 
the Spirit of God dwelt therein. The Lord said to Solomon, " I 
have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name 
there forever, and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetu- 
ally." But the Lord also said, that if the people should turn from 
following Him, and should go and serve other gods, to worship 
them, "then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have 
given them, and this house, which I have hallowed for my 
name, will I cast out of my sight, and Israel shall be a proverb and 
a bye-word among the people, and at this house, which is high, 
every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss, and 
they shall say, Why hath the Lord done this unto this land^ and 
to this house 7 And they shall answer, because they forsook the 
Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of 
Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped 
them, and served them : therefore, hath the Lord brought upon them 
all this evil."* 

The body of Christ was the temple of God. The eternal Spirit 
dwelt therein bodily. Christ says, " Destroy this temple, and in 

* 1 Kings ix. 1-9. 



118 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

three days I will raise it wp^'' But He spake of the temple of 
His hodyj^* This figure, or type, is preserved in the Evangehsts 
and Epistles. Paul mentions it in his Epistle to the Corinthians ;t 
he refers to it in his Letter to the Hebrews, where he speaks of the 
altar, which was a sacred part in the temple ; J it is stated, also, in 
several other passages, and in Revelation, it is still continued. § 
Besides, it is manifest in all the scenes of the crucifixion. For at the 
crucifixion of Christ, the veil of the temple, emblematic of His body, 
^'was rent in the mic?5^."|| " And they that passed by railed on Him, 
wagging their heads, and saying. Ah, thou that destroyest the 
temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself, and come down 
from the cross." ^ 

But what does Christ Himself say of His crucifixion, viz : of His 
Spirit quitting or forsaking the temple of His body, which He had 
hallowed for His habitation ? He says, " No man taketh it from 
me, but I lay it down of myself, I have power to lay it down, and 
I have power to take it again. This commandment have I received 
from my Father."** For although wicked men did crucify Him, yet 
it was by the Lord's free submission to their weakness ; for had He 
chosen. He could have crushed at once all their power. Therefore, 
He says, "I lay down my life of myself: no man taketh it from 
me." His Spirit was not deserted by the Lord, for His Spirit was 
the eternal Father. But He was the son of David, or of Mary, 
" according to the flesh," at the same time that He was, " in 
JS^pirit," the Lord or God of David and of Mary. Therefore, when, in 
His relation of Son, " according to the flesh," He is about to lay 
down His body, or to forsake His temple. He utters that warning 
voice, for the instruction and remembrance of all people, "Why 
hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?' that 
is to say, Why does the Lord forsake the temple of His body, and 
give up His people to Barabbas *? or, " My God, my God, why hast 
*thou forsaken me." The answer, if given, would have been, " Be- 
■cause they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their 
fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other 
gods, and have worshipped them, and served them." And, that 
this is the meaning of the passage, is further apparent from what 
our Lord says to His disciples, "And when He," (the Comforter,) "is 
€ome. He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness, and of 

♦ John ii. 19-21. f 1 Cor. iii. 16. t Heb. xiii. 10. § Rev. xi. 19. 

{J Luke xxiii. 45 ; Heb. x. 20. IT Mark xy. 29, 30. ** John x. 18. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 119 

judgment : of sin, because they believe not on me ; of righteous- 
ness, because I go to my Father, and ye see me no more ; of judg- 
ment, because the Prince of this Avorld is judged."* The Jews 
forsook God, and took hold of, and worshipped, Barabbas, a mur- 
derer, in His place. Therefore, the holy Spirit forsook the temple, 
or the body of Christ. 

Objection 20. In order to support your doctrine, that Christ is 
God, and that God has emotions and sensibilities like a holy man, 
you resort to a highly figurative interpretation of many passages in 
the Bible. To me such a mode of interpretation is very suspicious. 
For we cannot doubt that the Deity is acquainted with the signi- 
fication of terms, and the power of language ; and had He desired 
to teach the doctrines, which you have mentioned, He would have 
said so, in express words. Nothing is more abhorrent to me, than 
the use of a figure^ to uphold a strained or equivocal interpretation 
of the divine word ; for if men once accustom themselves to adopt 
metaphors as channels of instruction, they will soon take the lib- 
erty of contradicting the most plain and literal declarations in the 
revelation of Jehovah ; and will make the Bible read just as their 
own unbelieving hearts may dictate. Nor am I fond of metaphys- 
ical discussions in Theology. I have no idea that God has laid 
^' soul-traps'^ for His children, that He may have the pleasure of 
catching and destroying them, upon some unmeaning and cunning 
question in metaphysical science. 

Answer. I will appeal to your own candor ^ whether this objec- 
tion is justly applied ! 

Is it / who resort to figures or metaphors, in order to prove that 
we are made in the image and likeness of God ; and that all 
through the divine revelation without the exception of one solitary 
book, from the beginning of Genesis, to the end of Revelation, God 
is represented literally and actually, as experiencing the emotions, 
affections, feelings, and sensibilities of a holy man, renewed in 
the image of God ? Is it / who resort to figures and types, to prove 
that Christ is actually and literally called God, the Wonderful, 
Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince 
of Peace. That repeatedly He is expressly and distinctly called 
our Lord and the same angel of the presence of God, who led 
out Israel from Egypt ? That God is one Lord, and only one / 

* John xyi. 8-11. 



120 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

that He is our only Saviour, and that beside Him there is no Sa- 
viour ? That " of the peopleJ^ viz : of all created souls, there was 
none with Him ? That all the incommunicable attributes, and the 
government of Jehovah, are ascribed to Christ ? That all things 
were made by Him, lohether in heaven or in earth ; and that He 
is the everlasting I am ? That God dwelt bodily in the flesh or 
body of Jesus, as in His temple, and that by His own blood, He 
has redeemed and reconciled us to Himself. That He is the only 
potentate, and King of kings, and Lord of lords ; who alone hath 
immortality, dwelling in the light, which no man can approach ; 
and that to Him only, belong power, and dominion, and glory, and 
honor forever. That no created being has, or can have life in 
himself, and that in no other manner, than by being engrafted on 
Godj by a living faith, or as a branch is engrafted t)n a root, can we 
have life. That in order that we may have life, God took our 
body upon Him, and was born miraculously of a virgin ; and in 
this relation of subjection and obedience to the laws enjoined upon 
His brethren, He is called the Son of Man ; but is also called the 
Son of God, BECAUSE His mother who knew no man, conceived 
Him by the power of the highest ? That being perfect God and 
perfect man, He occupies two distinct and perfect relations, the 
human, and the divine ; and thus perpetually lifts man up to the 
Godhead, through His body, by continually manifesting in it un- 
ceasing revelations of the Deity, whose infinite fulness must ever 
remain greater than any exhibition which the capacity of a creature 
can either receive or comprehend ! 

All these truths are clearly stated, so that he who runs may read j 
and not even the fool need err therein. And yet not /, but you 
reject all this blaze of light, and enclose yourself with darkness, 
hugging your metaphysics, and your Barabbasses, your Pythago- 
rases, your Aristotles, and your Platos to your heart, saying to 
yourself, that the whole Bible is only a figure, called Anthropopa- 
thy, and that God does not mean what He says, and that He is only 
cheating us by false words, as children are tricked by nursery tales f 
So far from the use of figure being abhorrent to you, as you imagine, 
you contradict the most direct revelations of God, by an unfounded 
assumption of figure, and you resolve all ideas of the Godhead, into 
the numbers of Pythagoras, the emanations of Plato, the abstrac- 
tions of Aristotle, the morals of Barabbas, and the absurdities of 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 121 

modern school divinity. Yet you charge upon me, thai I use 
figures, because in conjunction with, and in confirmation of the 
manifold and uncontradicted, plain declarations of our Lord, on the 
subjects which I have mentioned, I apply, also, the types and para- 
bles of Christ, as Christ Himself, in His holy writings, has taught 
us to do ! For beyond doubt, our Lord conveyed His truths, not 
only by plain, direct, and express words, but likewise by manifold 
types, figures, and parables, and has presented even a more abundant, 
varied, and inexhaustible food to our minds than to our bodies, 
" that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all 
good works," and that a rich and unfaiUng supply of instruction 
may be furnished to our souls, through every faculty, organ, and 
feeling which the God of nature has bestowed upon us. Hereby, 
also. His holy word is perpetuated to the latest generations of the 
human family ; is preserved from the decay of perishing languages ; 
is kept from the corruptions which would otherwise have resulted 
from metaphysical terms and abstract argument ; is made suitable 
to all nations, climates, manners of life, conditions of society, and 
ages of present and future intellect ; and is fitted to be translated 
into all tongues and dialects, without the hazard of sectarian falsifi- 
cation. As the spirit is of more worth than the body, so our heavenly 
Father has made all His physical creation subservient to the growth, 
the improvement, and the glory of His spiritual creation, in know- 
ledge and sanctification. And yet you complain, that we expound 
undoubted types or figures in a typical sense, viz : according to the 
spirit, and not the letter ; notwithstanding our Lord Himself informs 
you, that '' it is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth 
nothing ; the words that I speak to you, they are spirit, and they 
are life" :* and Paul says, «< the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth 
life."t 

Not only have I abstained from explaining away, under the 
pretext of figures, the positive and express declarations of Jehovah, 
concerning Himself, but I have also refrained from adopting or 
insisting on any system of metaphysics, as the groundwork of reli- 
gious belief. I confess my own nature to be a mystery to me ; and 
much more, therefore, the nature of the Deity ; but notwithstanding 
I cannot know all things, there are some things which I profess 
to know, both from consciousness and revelation. The true 

* John yi. 63. f 2 Cor. iii. 6. 

16 



122 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

Baconian mode of inquiry, I hold to be the avenue to metaphysical, 
as well as to natural science ; and if you are disposed to draw a 
different opinion of me, from any thing which I have stated, you 
have greatly erred. For is it not a principle, all through my work, 
that man can create no knowledge, and that all we can do, is to 
observe, to think, to experiment, to collect, to digest, and to receive, 
and believe what the God of nature teaches in His laws ] This 
principle, applied now to religion, as long since it was to physics, 
will shake tiie footholds of spiritual philosophy, with no less violence 
than heretofore it did, the dogmas of natural philosophers, and will 
bring down the present creeds of pulpits and theological seminaries 
to the dust. Not only do I hold this doctrine of experimental 
spiritual philosophy, but I leave it to you to say, whether you, or 
any of your writers, to your knowledge, have thus applied the test 
of actual ex^^erience and observation, to the phenomena of the 
spiritual universe, existing in the Scriptures of truth ! In doing 
this, I have followed the authority or example of no modern what- 
ever ; but in opposition to their united influence, whether atheists, 
infidels, or professed Christians, 1 have gone back to the Bible itself, 
and to the writers and teachers in the Bible. 

What mystery of metaphysics is it, to tell you that we are made 
in the image and likeness of Jehovah ; and that, although, we are a 
mystery to ourselves, yet if man be like God, God is like man 1 
That our heavenly Father, when He commands us to have affections 
and sentiments like His, does not deceive us, when He informs us 
that He has affections and sentiments like holy men ? That spirits 
may differ in powers of feeling, and of will, and reason, but that 
infinity of life and perfection does not exclude either of these attri- 
butes, although it unites them all in harmony and benevolence 1 
That some spirits exhibit the sense of feeling with slight powers, if 
any, of will, and none of reason, while others exhibit feeling and 
will, with instincts, but no powers, or if any, very slight powers of 
reason : and that, of all the creatures known to us, on earth, only 
man is made in the image of God ] That our heavenly Father, in 
creating and sending any finite exhibition of Himself, or angel of 
His own presence, in conformity to the laws which govern our 
nature, must still, every where, and at all times, retain and exercise 
His inscrutable and unapproachable divine infinity, although unseen 
by us, in hke manner as the spirit of the one supreme Governor, is. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 12S 

even now, every where present, and full, and perfect, although 
invisible to your eye? That salvation consists in knowing, loving, 
and obeying God, our Father, with the whole heart, soul, mind, and 
strength, and our brethren as ourselves ; and that, in order to write 
this salvation upon our hearts, the Lord Himself took our form upon 
Him, living as a brother among us, and personating a son to Him- 
self ] In all tfiis, there is no more metaphysics than that which a 
child may know and believe, who feels and acknowledges his kin- 
dred, duty, and affection to an earthly parent. 

Let it not be thought, that I have displayed too much warmth in 
my answer to this objection- For in fact, this objection is frequently 
made to me ; and that by persons, who ought to know that, by 
urging it, they place me in a false position, directly the reverse of 
the one in which I really stand, and that they themselves are the 
men who occupy the ground, which they wish to impute to me. 

Objection 21. At least, you must admit, that there are many 
things obscure in the revelation of the Son of God ; and as God 
has given us moral commands which are plain enough, why not 
be content to perform them, without seeking to know what God has 
purposely involved in mystery. Whether Christ was God or man ; 
or whether He had one soul, or two souls, does not interfere with 
the moral duties enjoined by Him. For my part, it appears to me, 
that the doctrine of the two souls of Christ, presents the easiest 
outlet to the obscurities in the Bible, on the subject of the divinity 
of Christ. For He is called God ; and yet there are some things 
which He said and did, which, in my opinion, contradict the idea 
of His being God ; for instance, {in addition to all that has been 
enumerated,) His disclaiming that He is God, as I think He does in 
Matt. xix. 16, 17, where one calls him Good, — "And He said unto 
him, why callest thou me good ] there is none good but 07ie, that 
is God : but if thou wilt enter into life, keep the commandments,^^ 
This meets my opinion fully ; if thou wilt enter into life, keep the 
commandments : " there is no ambiguity in them. By beheving 
Christ to have two souls, I avoid all difficulty ; for what He 
unequivocally says of Himself as God, I refer to His divine Spirit ; 
and all the rest that I cannot understand, I refer to His created soul. 
And if I err in this speculative point, it makes no difference, for 
my practical duty is plain enough, viz : to keep the com?nand- 
ments. 



124 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 



Answer, Do you not know, that men take as different views of 
the moral commandments of God, as they do of the other parts of 
His revelation ? You will hear men, on their death beds say — I 
have done harm to no man ; / am blameless ; whose hearts, if 
searched by the spirit of the commandment of God, would be found 
to contain every filthy and criminal abomination. Who does, in 
any degree whatever, keep the commandments of God, but he, who, 
as a child of God, is justified and cleansed by faith in the blood of 
God. And even then, what obedience, in a finite spirit, can come 
up to the absolute perfection of the divine law 1 

I do not deny that great is the mystery of Godliness, and that 
every increasing revelation of Jehovah, must exhibit an outer hmit, 
beyond our instant comprehension, or state of knowledge, around 
which a cloud must hover : a cloud, however, continually repelled 
farther, and more far off, as our inward hght increases. To every 
created soul, the paviUon of the infinite Jehovah, in His fulness, is 
darkness. But, still, we must be careful, that the light that is 
within us, be not darkness ; for then how shall we ever make any 
advance ? We mast begin as infants, with a right knowledge of 
the Infant God ; and this God will grow and increase in our hearts ; 
and as a stone, ^^ cut out of the mountain without hands,^^ will 
fill the earth ; but '' if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast 
polluted it.^^* 

In my apprehension, there is no more mystery in the revelation 
of God, concerning His incarnation, and the two relations which 
He fulfils, as God and man, than there is in the other parts of the 
revelation and commandments of God. The facts, I can under- 
stand. So I can understand the facts of the creation and govern- 
ment of God ; although the manner of those facts, or all the 
qualities of them., are beyond my comprehension. Do you not 
yourself perceive, if you reject Christ as God, on the supposition 
that the Deity is an abstraction, and that we are not made in His 
image and likeness, you preclude yourself from ever knowing or 
loving your heavenly Father? Your doctrine of the created soul 
of Christ, in conjunction with the Godhead, is nothing but a vast 
reservoir of unbelief and self-delusion ; for all your abstractions of 
the Deity, you erroneously call ideas of God, or theology ; but the 
whole real nature of God, which is the model and exemplar of our 
nature, you blindly call the created soul, and thus, you take up 

* Exod. XX. 25. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 125 

Stones to stone God, or Christ, because that He, being a man, makes 
Himself God : or, (the converse,) being God, makes Himself a man. 
The Jews, when they led away our Saviour to crucify Him, com- 
pelled Simon, of Cyrene,* to bear His cross ; so you crucify our 
Lord ; and in leading Him forth to Golgotha, you put the cross 
upon " a man of Cyrene," — some " created " soul. 

You speak of there being a mystery in the doctrine of the one 
spirit of Christ; but how much greater m)^stery is there in the 
doctrine of two spirits, the infinite eternal Godhead, and a finite 
created soul, mystically united in one ! Can you explain all the 
absurdities of that hypothesis ? What became of the created soul, 
after death 1 Is it still mystically united with God, and omnipresent ] 

Paul informs us there is one body and one spirit ;t but you allege, 
that there is one body, and two spirits. All created souls, who are 
united to God, by a living faith, are one body in Christ ; and the 
spirit that worketh all in all, in this new man, is God ; but you 
allege that there is a created soul in heaven, and the very highest 
in heaven, which is not a co-member of the body of Christ, but an 
animating, quickening, saving, propitiating, and sanctifying spirit 
with God ; and that this created soul, is entitled to the chief glory, 
from having redeemed us to God, and reconciled us to Himself 
through death. 

Christ says, " I am he that liveth, and was dead ; and behold, I 
«im alive for evermore, Amen ; and have the keys of hell and of 
death."! This was the same Jesus, who endured the agony of the 
cross, who is clothed in a vesture dipped in blood, and w^hose name 
is called the Word of God ; who is King of kings, and Lord of 
lords ;k and who is every where present, in power, in spirit, and 
salvation. Yet you believe this Saviour to be a created soul ! The 
mystery of that doctrine of yours, infinitely transcends all the mys- 
teries, which you have imagined, of the true doctrine of the cross 
of God, which is taught in the Bible. 

The text which you mention in your last objection, as presenting 
a difficulty, upon the supposition of its disclaiming the divinity of 
our Saviour, presents no such difficulty whatever. Christ says in 
another passage, — " Why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do not the 
things which I say 1 Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my 
sayings, and doeth them, I will show you to whom he is like. He 

* Matt, xxrii. 32. t Eph. iy. 4. % Rey. i. 18. § Rey. xix, 13-16. 



126 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

is like a man, which built a house, and digged deep, and laid the 

foundation on a rock."* So also in the first cliapter of Isaiah, the 
Lord condemns the people, wlio come to appear before liim, to seek 
counsel from Him, but wlio love, and do iniquity. In many places, 
He expresses His disapprobation of those, v/ho profess Him with 
their lips, but in their hearts, do not know Him. In the text, which 
you have quoted from Matthew, the meaning is reconcilable with 
this paraphrase, " Why do you profess to honor me by words ! 
when in your heart, you neither know nor regard me? You call 
me master, and good, " and ye say well, for so I am ;t and as there 
is none good but one, that is God, and as I am good, therefore, I 
and the Father are one ; if you would be my disciple, pursue this 
example, and take up your cross and follow me." I see no difficulty 
whatever, in the text ; but I do see that it disproves the idea, that 
a man may be saved by your conception of the commandments, 
and by what you call " practical duty," without faith in the blood 
of God. 

Objection 22. But Christ was tempted of the devil. Can any 
man, in his senses, believe that satan would ever think of tempting 
God 1 Only reflect one moment, and you will see that Christ 
cannot be God. Satan, after showing Christ the kingdoms of the 
world, and the glory of them, says, all these things will I give thee, 
if thou wilt fall dov/n and worship me.t Can any one persuade 
himself, that satan could ever have hoped, that God would depart 
from His truth and holiness, and bow Himself down to the wicked- 
ness of Belzebub ] 

Answer. Yes ! Strange as it may appear, it takes place every 
passing day, and we hear and see it each moment of our lives ! 
The satan, or spirit of opposition in our hearts, says to God, come 
down from your cross of holiness, and do not command me to take 
my cross and follow you, and I will beheve ! Convert my flinty 
heart by a miracle, and I will believe ! Where is yoiu' universal 
deliverance ? Let it come by a miracle of grace, to a hardened and 
Oodless people, and I will then be a follower of yours ; but not 
until I can be so, and at the same time enjoy the pleasures of sin ! 
The Jews tempted God in the wilderness ;§ and Jews and Gentiles 
tempted Him on Calvary. II They say, put on a crown of thorns, 
instead of a crown of righteousness ; take the reed of the weakness 
* Luke vi. 46-48. f John xiii. 13. t Matt. iv. 1-9. § Ps. xcv. 9. ji Matt, xxvii. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 127 

of a created spirit in thy right hand, for the sceptre of yonr strength ; 
and let ns mock tliee with false praises ; and spit npon tliee, hy 
despising tliy word, and tranipUng upon the poor and needy in tlie 
land, making meichandize of their blood and souls, and binlding us 
splendid houses, by their ruin ; and you shall have the Avhole glory 
of all the wonderful kingdoms and hierarchies, which w^e will 
establish in thy name ! The «' Word of God,^^ is now tempted 
and tried in this very manner, by satan, or death, and hell, in all 
the nations of Christendom ; but it is " not possible that He should 
be hoi den by it."* 

Objection 23. If Christ had not a created soul, see the conse- 
quences that would result. All His actions, then, were the actions 
of the eternal Spirit, quickening a mere dead earthly body, having, 
in itself, no more life or ability for holiness than a lump of clay ! 
You say that this animation of the body of flesh of Christ, is typical 
of the animation of the spirits of believers, by the indwelhng of 
the Spirit of Jesus. But, do you think, that God would address a 
command of faith or holiness to a lump of earth — to a log, or a 
stone 1 Yet, He might as well do so, as address his word to a mere 
body of flesh, or to an absolutely dead and inert spirit, having no 
more power of action than a mere dead earthly body, which, you 
say, is a type of the souls of men. But I do not belive that the souls 
of men are so absolutely dead as that. They must have some 
power of life in them, else they never could take hold of Christ by 
faith ; which a dead earthly body cannot do. We are relieved from 
this diflSculty, by supposing that Christ had a created soul, which 
was a co-worker with the Godhead, dwelling in it. Your doctrine 
of the sole divinity of the Spirit of Christ, w^ould make all actions 
whatever, which are done by holy men, the immediate and personal 
actions of God Himself ; and thus would amount to a sort of spiritual 
pantheism. 

Answer. This objection proceeds from a wrong understanding of 
the word death. As I have somewhere before said, death does not 
mean an absolute annihilation of the essence of any thing, but a 
cessation or separation of the subject, from the object, in relation to 
which the term death is applied. Natural death is not an annihila- 
tion of the integral elements of the body, nor of the soul, which, I 
presume, is a simple and uncompounded essence ; but is the separa* 

* Acts ii. 24. 



128 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

tion of soul and body. So civil death is the separation of a man 
from civil society, and spiritual death is a separation or alienation 
of the action of a soul from the will of God. The soul thus dead, 
or separated from the life of God, has all the original faculties, 
powers, and instincts, that it ever had ; but it is totally and entirely 
depraved, or utterly dead in every thought, feeling, and action to 
the will of God, and, while remaining in unbelief, can no more 
exert a Hving action in God, than a dead fleshly body can manifest 
life, without the indwelling spirit. I do not impute this death of 
ours to any sin of Adam, committed by him ; but to the fact, that 
no created, finite soul can have life in itself. How can a finite spirit 
comprehend the infinite will of God ] How can a being, who came 
into existence yesterday, know the events and counsels of, (if I may 
use the term,) the past eternity] or of the present infinity through- 
out the universe 1 or of the eternity yet future, and whose endless 
ages are all a darkness before us ] Yet this eternity, and this infinity,, 
are to be filled up with a holy temple, or a holy city, the New Jeru- 
salem, made without hands, descending out of heaven from God, 
typical of intelligent souls, whose walls, gates, and foundations, 
are all to be laid out and erected with the most exact squareness, 
regularity, and evenness, without spot or blemish. Even in build- 
ing a small house here, on earth, for our bodily temporal sojourning, 
we need a plummet and a rule. The workmen are not permitted 
to empty down their sand, lime, mortar, stone, and other materials, 
wherever they please, and to lay fragmentary, disjointed, and con- 
flicting foundations, here and there, and to put up their structure in 
whatever way each one may choose, without regard to the will of 
the master builder. It is the chief architect who sketches the de- 
signs, and marks out the foundations, and the building is, or ought 
to be, erected in conformity to his plan. But what finite master 
builder can see the beginning and the ending, the limits and the 
foundations, of the house of God] What created spirit can lay 
judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet, of the 
Lord's work ] Evidently, the Lord Himself must foreordain and 
appoint the form and nature of His own house, or New Jerusalem, 
and no work will be accepted by Him, but that which is laid on His 
own foundations, and erected with true squareness and exact regu- 
larity by His plummet and rule. Hence, no man can do the will of 
God, who does not work on God's own building, as God Himself 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 129 

works, and all who are separated from this will of God, in other 
words, all who are not united to God by faith in Christ, are in 
spiritual death, typified by the condition of the body, when the spirit 
has forsaken it. I do allege, therefore, that all spirits, which are 
not quickened by the will of God, through Christ Jesus, have no 
more life in holiness, or ability, to work the work of the Lord, than 
a lump of clay, or a dead body of decomposing flesh. Action 
they have, and so has a mass of dead flesh ; but it is a putrescent, 
depraved action, generating worms and pestilence, like the carcasses 
of the dead in tophet, whose worm dieth not, and their fire is not 
quenched. All our faculties or powers, are, in their essence, the 
creation of God. There is nothing evil in them, in themselves. For 
suppose that men are formed with diflferent dispositions, viz : some 
with stronger powers for the acquisition of good, and others with 
stronger energies for the destruction of evil : how this is, I pretend 
not to say ; for I enter not here into the truth or falsehood of these 
phrenological tenets, whatever my own sentiments may be about 
them ; but this is certain, that none of these capjibilities is evil in 
itself; but, when united to God, by a living faith, is produc- 
tive of great benefit. Spirits are not holy, by the mere negation or 
absence of outward wickedness ; for holiness is a positive state ; it 
is an inward conformity to the image of God. Sin, in one form, is 
the transgression of a law, and yet all spirits, not engrafted upon God, 
by a living faith, are in death ; but dead spirits may not exhibit par- 
ticular sins, or acts of effervesing corruption, until the Sun of right- 
eousness shines upon them, and then death may become even more 
corrupt and offensive. Thus we see it is in the natural world. For 
the light and heat of the sun generate increased putridity in the 
dead flesh of animals ; but they invigorate living bodies, clothing 
the fields with verdure, and infusing new life and joy into the bosom 
of man. 

Our Saviour says, to Nicodemus, " And this is the condemnation, 
that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather 
than light, because their deeds were evil."* Christ did not come 
into the world, to condemn the world ; for the world is already in 
death : but Christ is come into the world, that the world might have 
life^ by faith in Him. The condemnation of the world is, that men 
turn from this life, and will not have it, although God freely puts 

* John iii. 19. 

17 



130 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

it before us, and offers it to every one. We have power to accept, 
and we have power to refuse ; our refusal is a continuance in death, 
and our acceptance is a passage from death to hfe, or the new 
hirth. As Moses says, to Israel, " I call heaven and earth to record 
this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, 
(blessing and cursing,) therefore, choose life, that both thou and 
thy seed may live."* The command or entreaty, to choose life, and 
to arise or depart from death, is not addressed to spirits absolutely 
dead or inert ; for they are constituted with all faculties, powers, 
and instincts, to enable them to obey. That they are not absolutely 
dead, in the sense which you have objected, is fearfully apparent, 
from their strong action in evil, in wars, bloodshed, frauds, and 
oppressions, which cover the whole earth as with a deluge. But 
they are totally dead, in the relative sense, which I have mentioned, 
for they are altogether alienated from the knowledge and love of 
God, and, while they remain in this unbelief, have no ability for 
good. This very depravity of will, is their condemnation. The 
act of choosing .life, or of preferring to remain in sin, is each one's 
own free, voluntary, and personal act ; as much so, I presume, as the 
Lord's own acts, are His acts. Our capacity extends no further 
than to accept and obey, or to yield to the will of God, and not to 
create or quicken. For originally, God created all our powers for 
life in Him, and now He submits to us, in Himself, the action or life to 
be chosen and obeyed. Whatever wx do in that life, is nothing but an 
obedience, or a yielding of our souls, to the divine will, exemplified 
by the obedience of our fleshly bodies, to the impulse of our 
minds. This doctrine does not lead to what you call "spiritual 
pantheism ;" for neither are the souls of the faithful, nor of the 
unbelieving, one in identical individuality with God, either in regard 
to their essence or their actions ; but yet, in another sense, very 
different, however, from pantheism, the souls of the righteous are 
one with God, viz : they are united by a living faith with Him, 
as our body to our soul, so that God's will "is all and in all."t And 
how else ought it to be ? Ought not one will to govern the uni- 
verse 1 And what will can this be, but the will of God ] 

That I am supported by the Bible, in this view of the subject, is 
provable by texts of Scripture every where. The passages from 
Genesis, which I have before quoted, prove it. For first, the dead 

* Deut. XXX. 19. t Col. iii. 11. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. l31 

earthly body of Adam, is a type of the first man, and of all born in 
him. And afterward, the quickening of that earthly Adam, is a 
figure of Christ, or the Lord from Heaven. For the spirit of God 
takes upon Himself the first man, viz : the dead fleshly body, and 
bears it as His own quickened body, and as a type of the living souls 
of the faithful. By birth from the first Adam, all, without excep- 
tion, are concluded in death or unbelief. For, although the acts of 
some of them, may appear good in relation to some small scale or 
standard, which the feeble vision of man may propose, yet in re- 
gard to the building of God, they are all infinitely far off from the 
truth, and it would be to the injury of man, if the Lord should 
permit such vile, narrow, and evil edifices to stand. Therefore, 
God has concluded them all under the sentence of death, that He 
may have mercy upon all.* " For as in Adam, (the first Adam,) all 
DIE, even so in Christ, (the second Adam,) shall all be made alive."! 
Those who are in the first Adam, or the old or first man, are dead 
to righteousness, but alive to sin ; but those who are in the second 
Adam, or the new man, are dead to sin, but alive to righteousness. 
In agreement with this, Paul says to the Colossians, " for ye are 
dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God,"l: viz : by reason of 
their being members of the body of Christ, and so one with God. 
For thus he writes to the Galatians, " I am crucified with Christ, 
nevertheless I live ; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me, and the life 
which I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, 
who loved me, and gave Himself for me."§ And in another place, 
he says to the disciples, "for it is God which worketh in you, both 
to will and to do, of His good pleasure." || However, I need not 
multiply quotations on so plain a point ; for the Bible is full of texts 
to prove, beyond all possibility of cavil, that every soul whatever, 
which is destitute of faith in God, is in a state of spiritual death, 
and without the least ability of doing good, and that by faith, the 
dead soul arises from its grave, and becomes a living member of the 
body of Christ, viz : of God. Therefore, think not, while you 
remain in unbelief, that you have any spark of holy life in your- 
self, which will enable you to manufacture a religion of your own, 
either to save yourself or others ; nor imagine that, under the pretext 
of faith, you can safely add to, or vary the word of God, and lift up 

* Rom. xi. 32. 1 1 Cor. xv. 22. % Col. iii. 3. 

§ Gal. ii. 20. || Phil. ii. 13. 



132 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

the hammer of your invention upon the hewn stones of the altar of 
God, to fit in there '* a created soulj^ in order to harmonize with 
some scheme of Pagan philosophy or school divinity. For by the 
natural birth, we are all dead, and by the new birth, we are all 
quickened from the dead : but the new birth consists in this ; not 
in creating any truth for ourselves ; but in willing and doing the 
work, that God wills and does. This should teach us the impera- 
tive necessity of diligently reading and studying the word of God, 
that we may know, and more fully understand, its increasing or 
enlarging spirit. For the will, or the revelation of God, is contin- 
ually enlarging itself, and words or texts, which, in the infancy of 
spiritual life, appear to have but a small or brief import, grow upon 
us by a more diligent study of them, and in a maturer state of 
spiritual strength, they swell out to an immense extent, and with a 
most brilliant clearness. We can never say this is the end, and we 
are now perfect. 

Objection 24. According to the belief which you have express- 
ed, of the divinity of our Saviour, what becomes of the doctrine 
of the atoning sacrifice of Christ ? The Lord said to Adam, that 
in the day he would eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, 
he should surely die. Now, we know that he did not die on that 
day; but he lived many hundreds of years afterwards. His 
original sin, however, is imputed to all his descendants, who are, 
by reason of this original sin, under sentence of death. God 
having made an absolute threat of death for sin, cannot take it 
back ; the perfection of His justice, requires that God should actu- 
ally inflict upon the offender, the penalty which was denounced. 
But the offender was a created soul ; therefore, God must inflict 
upon a created soul, the penalty. One created soul, may indeed, 
be substituted by vicarious appointment, for another created soul ; 
for they are both in the same nature, and the nature that sinned 
must die ; so that when a created soul dies, which knew no sin, but 
is substituted for the sinner by its own choice, and by the appointment 
of God, it is still the same nature which sinned, that dies. There 
are justice and mercy combined in this plan. For the sinner, by this 
equivalent, pays his whole debt to God, who has no more reckoning 
against him, and the substituted, created, righteous, dying soul, 
takes upon itself and endures a full equivalancy of suflering, equal 
to what all the sufferings of the elect would have been, had not 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 133 

the substitution been made. This is the way in which God may 
be just, and yet the justifier of him who beUeves in Jesus ; because 
the atoning soul pays our debt to God. But God could not pay a 
debt to Himself. Sinners owe Him a debt, and He never can for- 
give it, but He must be paid to the uttermost farthing : if He does 
not exact it, He is not a just nor a true Being. 

Answer. The atonement that you speak of, is the atonement of 
Moloch, not the atonement of the Lamb of God. There are no 
more justice and mercy in it, than were to be found in the Jewish 
valley of Hinnom, or than now exist in the sacrifices of Juggernaut. 
It proceeds from the same root of carnal enmity to God. 

The Lord says that all souls are His ; the soul of the father 
and the soul of the son ; and that the soul which sins shall die. 
The son shall not hear the iniquity of the father, nor the father 
the iniquity of the son. Each one's righteousness, is his own 
righteousness, and each one's wickedness, is his own wickedness. 
If a soul sins, it will forever, through eternity, be the worse for that 
sin. For every moment of time has its alotted duty, and we can 
never gather up that which is lost. Let any person compute the 
number of all his ancestors, on the paternal and maternal sides, 
through many degrees of removal, and he will be astonished at the 
immensity of the increase. So, also, in descent from a stock, the 
numbers may swell beyond calculation ; for the progeny of Abra- 
ham, through Isaac, are countless. Thus it is with our lost time. 
By losing a few ideas of knowledge, or omitting to gain a few 
degrees of improved spiritual strength, we not only lose or omit to 
gain them, but all their progeny. And by bringing one sin into 
existence, we not only give birth to that, but to its millions of 
consequences. A speck of additional matter, created in the uni- 
verse; changes the orbits of the heavenly bodies ; so a speck of 
sin, placed any wherein the spiritual universe, affects the universe. 
James, therefore, very justly says, «' Brethren, if any one of you 
do err from the truth, and one convert him, let him know, that he 
which converteth the sinner from the error of his way, shall save a 
soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of sins."* 

God is never paid an equivalent for sin, nor can any suffering 
atone for it. It is by no means His pleeisure, that sin should, at all 
exist. But as holiness is the living state of a rational, voluntary, 

* James v. 19, 20. 



134 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

and sensitive spirit, acting for itself, by all its powers, therefore 
each creature of this character must choose for itself. It may be 
alledged that the Lord, by His grace operating on the heart, may 
cause all spirits to retain their holiness, or compel all offending 
spirits immediately to return to Him : that as He does this to some, 
he may do it to all. But how does any spirit, which already 
knows the Lord, retain its standing, but by choosing life and reject- 
ing death, and how does any fallen spirit return, but by fleeing 
from death and embracing life ? Each one acts and must act for 
itself, and the way of the Lord is equal and impartial ; for His 
law is a self-executing law in our hearts, never erring. Where- 
fore the Lord speaks in this manner to Israel : " Yet. saith the 
house of Israel, the way of the Lord is not equal. O ! house of 
Israel, are not my ways equal? Are not your ways unequal? 
Therefore I will judge you, O ! house of Israel, every one according 
to his ways, saith the Lord God. Repent, and turn yourselves from 
all your transgressions, so iniquity shall not be your ruin. Cast 
away from you all your transgressions, whereby ye have transgress- 
ed, and make you a new heart and a new spirit : for why will ye 
die, O ! house of Israel. For I have no pleasure in the death of him 
that dieth, saith the Lord God. Wherefore turn yourselves, and 
live ye."* Grace, therefore, is nothing but abundant, unfailing, 
never-ending love and mercy, acting by the word, works, and all the 
providences of the Lord, upon our powers of reason, will, and sen- 
sibility, in the same manner as all truths act upon those same 
powers. Reason would not be reason, unless it acted by its proper 
powers or faculties of reason, and so we may say of the other 
organs of an intelligent and accountable agent. A stone, by a 
miraculous power, may seem to speak and deliver prophecies, or 
carry on an argument ; but what better is it, for all this, than a 
stone ? The faculties which constitute our superior nature, are of 
no utility, unless they are exercised. If I have an instrument in 
my hands, for viewing and exploring the heavens, and instead of 
putting it to my eye, to help my vision, I pray God to show and 
teach me all things, by a miracle, of what service is the instru- 
ment ? I might as well be without it. The Lord has constituted 
us with all powers, to see and know Him. We must look through 
the organs with which He has endowed us, and if we choose to 

*Ezekialxriii. 29-32. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 135 

reject the use of them, and cry to Him for a miracle, the best salva- 
tion He can bestow upon us, is to compel us to use our faculties. 

The ways of God are equal, and His laws are self-executing. 
At the very instant, that Adam transgressed the command of God, 
and ate of the forbidden tree, he died, that is, his soul was sepa- 
rated by disobedience from the life of God, which is the meaning of 
spiritual death. Had Adam never ate of the tree, he would, I do 
not doubt, have, notwitstanding, died naturally, viz : there would 
have been a separation of his soul and body. Yes ; and even had 
our first parents never fallen, their children being born, not in ma- 
ture life, but as babes, would still have needed all the care and 
education, which are now bestowed in the rearing of infant minds. 
We have to answer, not for the sins of our parents, but for our own 
transgressions and obstinacy ; although, beyond question, as all 
experience proves, our ancestors transmit to us tendencies of char- 
acter, and surround us by circumstances which may be injurious 
or destructive ; at the same time that, by a vicious education, they 
instil into us bad precepts, or, through neglect, permit us to grow 
up in ignorance and blasphemy. 

Neither does God ever denounce His wrath against offenders^ 
except with a promise, express or implied, by the context of His 
word, that, upon a sincere repentance, they shall obtain free mercy, 
and free pardon. The Lord, therefore, has not, by any form of 
absolute threat, cut Himself off from the power of receiving a 
returning penitent, with joy and free forgiveness. Supreme wisdom 
says, " turn you at my reproof, behold I will pour out my spirit 
unto you, I will make known my words unto you. Because I have 
called and ye refused ; I have stretched out my hand and no man 
regarded ; but ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would 
none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity, I will mock 
when your fear cometh."* But this a threat of unforgiveness to 
those only, who call on wisdom, without doing the works of wis- 
dom, and is similar to what the Lord declares elsewhere, " when ye 
spread forth your hands, I will hide mine eyes from you; yea, 
when ye make many prayers, I will not hear ; your hands are full 
of hlood.^^\ But he who washes his hands by repentance and faith 
in the Lord, and puts away the evil of his doings, who hearkens to 
wisdom, and turns at her rebuke, who seeks judgment and follows 

* Proy. i. 23-26. t Isaiah i. 15. 



136 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

in all the counsels of the Lord, he shall dwell safely and be 
quiet from fear, and though his "sins be as scarlet, they 
shall be as white as snow, though they be red like crimson, 
they shall be as wool."* Search through the whole word of 
God, and judge of the meaning of each part by the entire context, 
and you will find, that wherever a threat is conveyed that the 
wicked shall perish, there is a promise also, expressed or implied, 
that " if the wicked will turn from all his sins, that he hath com- 
mitted, and keep all my, (the Lord's) statutes, and do that which is 
lawful and right, he shall surely live, he shall not die."t The Lord 
will mention his transgressions no more, but freely forgive him, as 
a father a son. And therefore it is that David, after he had com- 
mitted a most deadly and abhorrent sin with Bathsheba, and after 
he had most cruelly and wickedly murdered Uriah, and had re- 
mained hardened for a long space of time in iniquity, is when 
REPENTANT, Called a man " perfect with the Lord" ;t not that the 
adulterous homicide, David was perfect with the Lord, or a man 
after God's own heart, but the repentant, humble, and contrite David 
was, and God mentions his sin no more. II This mystery of love 
and free pardon, the wicked cannot discern, and in their Pharisa- 
ical self-righteousness, they make it a reproach against God, that 
He freely pardons sin, and no more remembers the transgressions 
of the truly penitent. Blindly, foolishly, and blasphemously they 
have the arrogance to compare themselves with God, and to place 
themselves above Him, saying "I am holier than thou" ;§ because 
forsooth, say they, we require a counterpoise or equivalent of good 
works : never knowing that there can be no pay for transgression, 
that the entire life of every creature is due to God, and that when 
from our birth to the grave, we shall have faithfully done all things 
which are commanded us, we are still unprofitable servants, having 
done only that which it was our duty and happiness to do.TF 

Christ is, beyond all question, our Passover, " sacrificed for us ;"** 
and '' without shedding of blood, is no remission :"tt but how this 
is, may easily be seen by referring to Exod. xxi. 3-28. This blood is 
a mark to us of the nature, character, the unspeakable love, and holy 
government of our Father in heaven ; and enjoins upon us the 
duty of repentance, the necessity of justification by the word of 

* Isaiah i. 18. f Ezek. xviii. 21. | 1 Kings ii. 4. || Ezek. xviii. 22. 

§ Isaiah Ixv. 5. IT Luke xvii. 10. ♦* 1 Cor. v. 7. tt Heb. ix. 22. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 137 

God, constant preparation and carefalness as pilgrims, with our 
loins girded, and our feet shod with the gospel of peace, the staff of 
faith in our hands, and a zealous diligence in all the ways of God : 
for he who has this mark of blood upon him, will purify himself, as 
God is pure. It teaches us, that we have an advocate or intercessor 
in the bosom of the Father, viz: the love of God, which continually 
pleads for us, and thus the atonement of Christ, is an atonement of 
love, making us one with God, by the love of God shed abroad in 
our hearts, by the holy Ghost, which is given us. 

Objection 25. But if Christ be God, why is His name in some 
places, put after the name " Ood,^^ as indicating two distinct beings ; 
for instance, in James's Epistle i. 1. "James a servant of God, and 
of the Lord Jesus Christ ?" When you connect this mode of speak- 
ing of Christ, as if different from God, with what is said of Christ, 
as being " the beginning of the creation of God," * and take the 
whole context of the word of God together, you will see that the 
Arians were right in their belief, that Christ, had indeed, existence 
as a high archangel before His appearance in the body, but that He 
was not God, but only the first creation of God, having been creat- 
ed even before Adam. 

Ansiver. I ask nothing else than that you should judge of the 
whole Scriptures by all the context ; for I hold no doctrine except 
that which is clearly taught in all the Bible. 

The providences of God, before the incarnation of our Lord, were 
intended for the bringing in of the bodily manifestation of the Deity, 
as the Saviour of the whole race of man. But prior to Christ, men 
were still saved by the true knowledge of, and faith in God ; yet I 
need not say, knowledge and faith are of very different degrees of 
clearness and extent. So mathematics is a science having an im- 
mense application, and persons who are just beginning it, know but 
little of it ; if you compare their ability, with that of masters in 
the science, their attainments are indeed feeble. Notwithstanding, 
no matter what advances the learner may afterwards make, he will 
never learn any thing which will teach him that two and two do 
not make four ; or that the whole is not greater than a part : in 
other words, the subsequent truths which he shall learn, will never 
conflict with the former truths which he has already attained ; for 
the foundation of all truth is imperishable. Thus it is with man- 
Rev. Hi. 14, 
18 



138 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

kind in the science or knowledge of God. The first beginners have 
the same elements which the highest archangels have, and the most 
brilliant revelations of divine glory are only unfoldings of the first 
principles of the Godhead. Therefore Adam, Noah, Abraham, 
Moses, and Paul, all knew God in the like nature ; for before Abra- 
ham was, Christ says, "/am," referring to His eternal existence: 
and all persons, so far as they are saved, are saved by truth. But yet 
my opinion is, that Noah knew more of God than Adam ; and Abra- 
ham knew more than Noah ; and Moses more than Abraham ; and 
Paul far more than either of them. For is it not foolish to suppose, 
that the revelation of God diminishes as the revelation of God 
increases ; that is to say, that men know less of God, the more they 
behold of His increasing and spreading works, providences, and 
fulfilling word ? I do not say, that Noah knew more than Adam, 
as Adam was at the day when Noah lived. For Adam was created 
many hundred years before Noah was born ; and after Adam was 
removed from this earth, he was taken to dwell with God in heaven ; 
and who will pretend that any creature coming into existence so 
many hundred years after another, can ever catch up with the 
attainments of the first spirit, provided the first spirit remains in 
the truth, and pushes forward by the diligent use of ail appointed 
means. Adam, I presume, will ever remain higher than Noah ; 
Noah, higher than Abraham ; Abraham, higher than Moses ; Moses, 
higher than Paul and the other apostles ; and the apostles and early 
Christians, higher than those who may now live, or who shall come 
hereafter. Nevertheless, considered in respect solely to their bodily 
or natural existence upon this earth, the principle which I have 
mentioned, I do not doubt holds good, viz : that as the revelation 
of God increases upon the earth, or as the science of God is unfold- 
ed in its higher branches, the true disciples of God know more of 
God, than those who have here preceded them. I do not speak 
of small intervals of time, but of great dividing and distinguishing 
eras. Always, however, the foundation of truth, remains the 
same and unalterable, as I have already stated. For that know- 
ledge and love which we have of God, is always the kingdom of 
God in our hearts ; and always we, and all other persons who are, 
or ever have been, or ever shall be saved, are saved by grace 
through faith in God, manifested as our Rock or Saviour. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 139 

This distinction, in the glory of the Ivingdoin of God, before and 
after the incarnation of our Saviour, I beheve, is very forcibly taught 
in the Scriptures. It was revealed even to Nebuchadnezzar in a 
dream, and to Daniel, along with the interpretation of the dream. 
For it was in the days of the fourth kingdom, or the Roman empire, 
that the God of heaven was to set up His kingdom, emphatically, 
or, by way of eminence, called the kingdom of God.* Speaking 
of this kingdom, Christ says, that he that is least in the kingdom 
of heaven, is greater than John the Baptist ; although John was 
greater than any who preceded him.t John died before the death 
of our Saviour, and before this spiritual kingdom of Christ was fully 
set up. In this sense, also, I understand that passage in the pro- 
phet, where it is said, " For the child shall die a hundred years 
old ;"| meaning, I think, that, after the incarnation of our Lord, 
persons, young in years, should know more of God than aged men, 
under the old dispensation. 

Now, my belief is, that when Christ is spoken of as the First 
Born^ or the beginning of the creation of Gody it is in reference to 
this new or spiritual kingdom of God, which so far exceeds the 
former kingdom of the Lord, under the old dispensation, that the 
old one, however glorious in itself, " had no glory in this respect^ by 
reason of the glory that excellethJ^ ^ Christ is the stone, cut out of 
the mountain without hands, who, having by death conquered 
death, was the first to arise in the new spiritual kingdom, and the 
first to proclaim the gospel of salvation through faith in His shed 
blood; for He taught* and opened the understanding of His dis- 
ciples, and poured out His Spirit upon them, and sent them forth to 
preach in His name among all nations. That it is in reference to 
this new, and more fully revealed, kingdom of God, that Christ is 
called the First Born, and the beginning of the creation of God, is 
evident to me, from the entire word of God, in all its context; for 
the old dispensation is spoken of as being the ministry of servants, 
but the new kingdom is the right of Christ, as that of a son over 
his own house. II And beside, in Rev. iii. 14, where Christ names 
Himself as the beginning of the creation of God, it is in connexion 
also, with the terms, " the Amen, the faithful and true witness ;" 
indicating, as I infer, that it is in His character, of a witness, that 
He is the beginning of the creation. For every witness, or manifesta- 

♦ Dan. ii. 44. f Matt, xi. 11. t Isa. Ixv. 20. § 2 Cor. iii. 10. I| Heb. iii. 6. 



140 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

tion of God, to any of His creatures, is a creation of a visible repre- 
sentation of the unseen Godhead. 

But even if it were conceded, that Christ had existence in a 
fleshly body, before the creation of Adam, so that we could literally 
say of Him, in His body^ that He was, in very deed, the beginning 
of the creation of God ; this would not prove that He was not 
God. For it is said, of Adam, that he heard the voice of God 
walking in the garden :* from which we may infer, that our Lord 
had then assumed a visible body, and, even if it were conceded, 
that such a fleshly body had been assumed, before the creation of 
Adam, this would prove only that God, at, and immediately before, 
the creation, had taken on Himself a fleshly body, and that He 
made Adam in His own image and likeness, both as regards the 
body and spirit. However, I do not say that this is so ; for I do 
not believe that the phrase, which is applied to our Saviour, " the 
beginning of the creation of God, has reference to the original 
creation, but to the kingdom of heaven, in the sense which I have 
before explained. But, if any one should contend for the prior ex- 
istence of our Lord, as a creation^ before the time of Adam, it would 
follow, that such prior existence, as a creation, could be afiirmed 
only of an assumed form of body. 

The reason why the name " Christ'''' is put in conjunction 
with the name " God," is very evident. The name God, is not a 
correlative. God would be God, though no creation had ever been 
made. But Father, Saviour, Sanctifier, are correlatives, and im- 
ply reciprocal relations, which connect us with the Deity. God 
could not be a Father without a creation; He could not be a 
Saviour, without creatures to be saved ; nor a Sanctifier, without 
purifying His elect. The use of these correlatives, therefore, may, 
with an accumulating energy, express at once our obligations and 
gratitude to God our Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. 

I might well ask you, what name of God should be more dear to, 
or cherished by man, than the name Christ Jesus, which declares, 
more forcibly than any other, our union with God, as His living 
body, and assures us, beyond all doubt, of the unspeakable and 
everlasting love and long-suffering of the Deity 1 Therefore, the 
name Christ Jesus is far above ^^ every name that is named, not 
only in this world, but also in that which is to come ;"t and we 

*Gen. iii.S. f Ephea. i. 21. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 141 

cannot wonder that the Apostles delighted to speak it. If you take 
notice, you will see that they pronounce their benedictions most 
frequently in the name of Jesus Christ alone ; which they most 
surely would not have done, if Christ were not God. 

Beside, I might reply to you, that in some places the name *' Fa- 
ther" is put after the name " God," in the same way as the name 
" Christ," and, as this does not indicate that God and the Father 
are two distinct Beings, neither ought such a supposition to be 
drawn from the phrase, God and the Lord Jesus Christ, James 
says, " God and the Father ;"* and Paul says, " God and our 
Father ;"t yet, do you imagine, that God and the Father are dif- 
ferent Beings 1 

Paul, in a certain place, writes, " The grace of the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy 
Ghost, be with you all. AmenP^X Does any one hesitate to 
beheve, that the Holy Ghost is God, and why then doubt, that the 
Lord Jesus Christ, to w^hom the first place in this benediction is 
assigned, is God ] 

Perhaps yow will say, that wherever the phrase '' God and our 
Father'''' occurs, the translation ought to be, " God, oven our Fa- 
ther." But if you resort to such a criticism, the advantage w^ould 
still be on the side of the doctrine as held by me. For would not 
your own sense of consistency then compel you to admit, that upon 
your rule of construction, the phrase, " God and our Lord Jesus 
Christ,''^ should be rendered, " God, even our Lord Jesus Christ ?' 
Jude says, (verse 25,) " To the only wise God, our Saviour, be 
glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever : Amen." 
The Lord coming "with ten thousand of His saints," (Jude 14,) is 
the Lord Jesus, our Saviour, and only wise God. See also the ori- 
ginal Greek in H. Thessalonians ii. 16, 17, *^ And may our Lord Him 
self, Jesus Christ, both the God and Father of us, w^ho hath loved 
us, and hath given everlasting consolation and good hope, through 
grace, may He comfort your hearts, and establish you in every good 
word and work." Compare the Greek text in I. Tim. vi. 14-16, 
where Paul charges Timothy to continue firm in the faith ; his 
language is, " that thou keep this commandment without spot, un- 
rebukable, until the appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, 
(appearance,) He will, in the proper times, manifest, who, {viz : the 

* James i. 27. f ^ai- »• 4. t 2 Cor. xiii. 14 



142 OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 

Lord Jesus Christy) is the blessed and only potentate-^ the King of 
kings, and Lord of lords ;" titles which cannot be applied to any 
but the Lord Jehovah. I might fill a volume with texts upon this 
point ; but I refer you to the Bible itself. 

I have now, so far as my memory serves me, gone over all the 
objections, which have at any time been urged to me, or which I 
can anticipate, relating to the Deity of Christ, our Saviour : except 
indeed two, which I do not think deserve a formal notice. One of 
these is, that several persons have told me, they would rather be- 
lieve the learned men in the clergy, concerning the divinity of 
Christ, than believe me ; but this I do not consider an objection, for 
I do not ask them to believe me, but to search the Bible, and think 
and judge for themselves. The other objection, which was actually 
made to me by a man standing high in a professing Christian 
church, was this : "yozt cmi never persuade me, (said he, 
smiling,) that God Almighty ever shoved a jack-plane /" The 
principle of pride on which this objection rests, may exhibit one of 
the most prolific grounds of our unbelief in God ; but I will not 
attempt seriously to controvert it, until some wise consumer of the 
fruits of the earth, will show me, that an arrogant and imperial 
Caesar, is of any more worth, in the sight of the Supreme Architect, 
than the honest workman, who increases wealth by industry. 

I have occupied very many pages, in the answers of the various 
objections, which I have noticed. I might have condensed the 
whole matter into a very brief space ; for the fact is, that a simple 
consideration of the two relations of God manifest in the fleshy 
viz : His perfect divine relation, and His perfect human relation, 
would solve all the difficulties. In the flesh, the Lord was born of 
woman, and subject to the same law of holiness, which He has en- 
joined upon the whole family of man, whom He personates. There- 
fore, in the flesh, as the Son, He does nothing by a new or recent 
determination as of Himself but fulfils what He had fore-ordained 
and foretold, by Moses and the prophets. Neither as the Holy Ghost 
or the risen Spirit, when He re-appears from the second veil, or from 
Heaven, or the Holy of Holies, without sin, unto salvation, does He 
speak of Himself, in that relation, as if promulgating a new gos- 
pel, disjoined from what He had foretold. For as our Lord says, 
" Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide 
you into all truth : for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatso- 

John xvi. 13. 



OBJECTIONS AND ANSWERS. 143 

ever He shall hear, (viz : in Moses and the prophets,) that shall He 
speak : and He will show you things to come,"* by opening our 
minds to understand ''The Word of God," that is to say, 
Christ. These three relations, the Father, Son, and holy Spirit, 
represent three distinct characters of action, of the one Lord and 
Jehovah. No person can come to Christ, the incarnate wisdom of 
the Deity, unless the power of God draw him ; but when, being 
drawn by the power of God, we behold and submit ourselves to 
the wisdom of God, we then enjoy the communion of the goodness, 
or the holy Spirit of our Father, and continually increase in fresh 
knowledge of His truth, and love of His grace. 

I might, as I have said, have condensed my answers to the objec- 
tions, into a very few lines. But what would have been the conse- 
quence ? Men seeing my views, and perceiving that I differed from 
the churches, would have consulted their catechism, or confessions 
of faith, or bodies of divinity, or most probably, would have asked 
some Levite or teacher in Israel, whether these things were so ; 
and then, any objection coming from such acknowledged authority, 
would have been received as conclusive against me. Thus it has 
been in many instances. Religious seekers, I regret to say, at the 
present time, are mostly like callow-birds, which have been taken 
from their parent nest by the hand of some trespasser ; they 
greedily swallow whatever unhealthy food, their owner drops into 
their mouths. In order, therefore, that I might guard against this 
evil, as much as possible, I have considered all the objections at full 
length, and have endeavored to show, not only what the truth is, 
but to obviate or remove all cavils from it, and to recommend it both 
to the mind and the heart of the sincere inquirer. Though in fact, 
he who takes up the word of God with the right feeling, will 
himself, readily and at once, anticipate true answers, and in the 
language of John, I might say, " ye need not, that any man teach 
you."* 

* 1 John ii, 27. 



144 



CHAPTER VIII. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 



Suppose that a fellow-man, should set before you, a machine 
constructed by himself, and you should examine, and trace its uses, 
by the powers of your own mind. In this instance, you are 
yourself finite, the maker of the machine is finite, and the machine 
itself, is finite. There is nothing, therefore, in the nature of things, 
to preclude you from discovering the uses of the instrument, by 
your own capacities. Probably, however, the instrument may 
relate to some art or science, in the elements of which, you are not 
grounded, and then, before you can understand the machine, you 
must study those elements. Yet, if you have life and time enough, 
and if you diligently devote your capacities to the subject, I repeat, 
there is nothing in the -nature of things, to preclude you from 
understanding the construction and uses of the instrument. 

But now imagine, that, instead of putting you to this long trial 
of discovery, the maker of the instrument, having caused it to be 
placed before you, should himself appear and remain by your side, 
and reveal to you, by his words, the whole object of the mechan- 
ism. It is highly probable, that, in this manner, you might much 
better understand the design and action of the work. But one 
thing, however, is very certain — the revealed knowledge, which 
the maker of the instrument might disclose to you by his words, 
would not differ in its truths, from the natural knowledge which 
the workmanship of the machine, would itself communicate, if you 
were left to the discoveries of your faculties, and should use them 
aright and successfully. If, on the contrary, the maker should say 
to you, " this part of my instrument operates in such and such a 
manner, and produces such a result," and you should examine, 
and find that it does not so operate, and that it does not and cannot 
produce that result, you then come to the conclusion, either that the 
maker has been mistaken, or that he is attempting to deceive you. 
You would act very unreasonably, if you should believe his 
unverified word, against all the dictates of your senses, and the 
unequivocal results of every experiment. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 145 

The conclusion that I wish to draw is this : natural and revealed 
truth are always in harmony ; and our own reason^ by which I 
mean not one faculty of our minds only, but all our powers, organs, 
or instincts, wherewith we are constituted, are the only criterion 
by which we can test and ascertain the accuracy or falsehood of 
any disclosure made to us. 

In the former instance I have supposed that the maker and the 
instrument were finite ; but I will now put another case. 

The infinite Creator has set before man, the infinite creation or 
mechanism of the works of Jehovah ; and has furnished us with 
powers of knowledge, conformably to His design, as to the part 
which we, who are also His work, are to act in His universe. Here it 
is manifest, at once, that, as we are finite, but the Maker or Creator 
is infinite, and His work or instrument, although seen by us, in 
parts, is either without limit, or, at least, is capable of an infinite 
operation and extension, according to His Almighty power and infi- 
nite wisdom ; it is manifest, I say, that although we may discover 
certain small portions of the actions of the work of the Lord, we 
can never, by our own powers, comprehend its fulness, or lay hold 
of the infinite design of the Lord in the creation. Even if our 
powers were inconceivably greater than they are, yet all finiteness 
combined is as nothing compared with infinity ; and if left to our 
own dogmas or assumption of wisdom, we should go on eternally, 
only plunging from one error into another. For never, neverj 
could we discover or behold that one entireness of will, or unit of 
purpose and harmony, which is the great centre of action in the 
universe of God. It is true, we are furnished with powers of know- 
ledge, conformably to the design of the Lord, in our creation ; but 
those powers, by a necessity inherent in every creature, require that 
we should not only see the works, but also hear the word, or reve- 
lation of our infinite Parent. 

But how are we to judge of a revelation professing to be divine ? 
Simply, by all the powers which God has bestowed upon us ; for 
they are bestowed upon us for the express purpose that we may 
know and glorify God. Revealed truth, when brought down from 
heaven, and presented to us for comparison and judgment, or 
placed within the reach or knoioing distance of our mental eye, 
will never difier from natural knowledge, or the knowledge that 
our own powers would have communicated to us by discovery, 
19 



146 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 



had they been competent to extend, at once, to the throne of hea- 
ven. By all the powers of our mind, viz : by every faculty, senti- 
ment, and instinct which God has bestowed upon us, we are to 
receive, to know, to judge of, to construe, or interpret and obey^ 
every work, and every word or revelation of the Almighty. 

Let us now illustrate this rule, by some examples. 

See that rich man : he is possessed of ample fields, and numerous 
and spacious mansions. His granaries are filled with abundance ; 
his wealth is countless ; beautiful flocks and herds pasture on his 
grounds; he is blessed with children, who grow up in health, 
and are adorned with every polite and pleasing accomplishment ;. 
men hold him in honor, and whenever he goes forth, greetings, 
apparently cordial, attend him, and his acquaintance contend for the 
privilege of being near his person. But is this man really holy 
and upright in the sight of God ? Is he grateful for the benefits 
which he enjoys ? Does he employ his possessions as a steward of 
the Most High ? Does he seek and avail himself of every oppor- 
tunity to do good ? Is he the refuge and protection of the afilicted,, 
the widow, and the orphan ? Alas ! No. So far from this, his 
heart is as a lion and a beast of prey. He tramples down the 
afflicted and the weak, and his immense wealth is the spoil of the 
defenceless, the ignorant, the widow, and the orphan. Every stone 
in his house calls out against him, for rapine, for extortion, and 
cruelty ; and the name of God is openly scofled and blasphemed 
by him. 

Come now to the humble cot and the small patch of ground of 
the poor man, whose property adjoins the estate of this wealthy 
lord. The poor old man, broken by disease, and oppressed by the 
accumulating weight of years, can with difficulty earn a scanty 
subsistence by incessant and daily toil. No wife cheers his labor ; 
no kindred gather around him ; it has pleased his heavenly Father 
to try him with afflictions ; and one after another, he has followed 
to the grave all whom he loved. Yet penury and grief have not 
extinguished the benevolence of that old man's heart. Cold and 
selfish has the world been to him. But the world has not taught 
him her selfish maxims, nor caused his heart to beat with one throb 
less of pity for others. Gladly does he receive and welcome the 
wanderer, and share his morsel with him. And, day and night, 
the grateful outpourings of his aged heart ascend to the Giver of 
all good, for undeserved mercies and manifold bounties. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 147 

What are the providences of our heavenly Father in respect to 
this just man, and the evil ? '' He maketh His sun to rise on the 
-evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and the unjust." 
This is what we call a law of nature. It is one of the parts of the 
operation of the great machine of creation, which the Lord has set 
before us. What lesson does the natural or unassisted heart of 
man derive from this action of the works of the Deity 1 It is this : 
*' We are delivered to do all these abominations ;*" '' What is the 
Almighty that we should serve Him, and what profit should we 
have if we pray unto Him ?t" " These things hast thou done, (says 
the Lord,) and I kept silence ; thou thoughtest that I was altogether 
such a one as thy self ^l Thus we are hardened by the very 
goodness of the Lord^ and we call the proud happy, and envy their 
condition ; never considering that a day of fearful retribution will 
surely come, when every talent and possession which the Lord 
has committed to our care, will be required from us, with the most 
exact and unerring accuracy, and that the long-suffering and good- 
ness of God are designed to lead us to repentance. 

I call upon all my readers to say, whether any natural philosopher, 
uninformed by a revelation from the Lord, has ever drawn from the 
law of nature, which I have mentioned, the conclusion, that we 
should love our enemies, do good to those who hate us, bless those 
who curse us, and pray for those, who despitefully use and persecute 
us. And yet no sooner is this argument announced by the Divine 
Mind, than we perceive the irresistible force of it ; and are aston- 
ished that it did not before occur to our perceptions. 

Again let us consider another law of nature ; in other Avords, 
another mandate of the Divine Will, impressed upon the creation, 
which the Lord exhibits to us. 

Statistical inquiries have proved the fact, that the two sexes of 
our race are nearly equal. If we look through the present compe- 
titive and warring state of society, we shall discern that the strong 
instinct of nature, which binds the parent to the child, is almost 
the only hold which now unites communities. For the spirit of hate, 
has broken off men from each other, into such small fragments, 
that little remains but the domestic hearth, where a natural and 
generous love exists. And even there, this spirit seems like an 
archangel in ruins ; although, impaired as its lustre is, it is still the 

* Jer. vii. 10. t Job xxi. 15. % Ps. 1. 21. 



148 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

source of all the social strength, and public virtue which prevail. 
The child who yields a dutiful and affectionate reverence to its 
parent, will make a good citizen, an upright magistrate, a sincere 
friend ; and, in its turn, will become a faithful husband or wife, and 
head of a family. This should teach us, the indispensable sanctity 
of the marriage vow, as an institution of heaven ; it should cause 
polygamy, bigamy, seduction, and all incontinence, to be regarded 
not only with abhorrence, but as the actual destruction of national 
and social union, prosperity, and safety ; and should brand every 
violator of chastity, as an enemy to man. 

But is this the way, in which the world regards the law of nature, 
to which I have turned your attention 1 Do they not rather argue 
from the example of some beasts, that man has no other law, but 
the law of sensual appetite ; and that desires were given in order to 
be gratified ] Nay ; even with the book of divine life, open before us, 
do not many persons pretend, that the law of marriage was a curse 
inflicted upon our first mother, for her original disobedience ; and 
that, under the dispensation of Christ, the institution is done away 1 
Philosophers, who advocate the utility of marriage and the duty of 
continence, in a temporal view, without deriving their authority 
from the Bible, do not ascribe the millionth part of the force to the 
law, which its importance demands. For the heart is affected and 
polluted by unchaste desires, although external circumstances may 
prevent the indulgence of them ; and not only must women, but 
men, and all men and all women be upright and pure in thought, 
word, and action : for God is no respecter of persons. 

Turn now to the revelation of God, and see how it is, that the 
word of our Maker, speaks of this law of nature, which He has 
impressed upon His work. 

Had not the Supreme Being, power to make as many wives for 
Adam, or as many husbands for Eve, as He chose ? And yet He 
made but one woman for one man. And why did He make one, 
nnd only one 7 He had the residue of power to make more. 
Wherefore, then, did He make only one 7 The answer is given — 
^Hhat He might seek a Godly seed."* This holy and loving 
union, was no curse, as some foolishly pretend, inflicted upon our 
fiirst parents. It was a law of their original creation ; and ought 
to be a source of tender joy, and pious constancy and fidelity ; an 

* Mai. ii. 15. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 149 

institution rendered still more sacred, by its being chosen as a type 
of the blessed union of the celestial Bridegroom with His Church. 
Tremble, therefore, ye who violate the law of continence, whether 
ye be married and are unfaithful, or whether ye be unmarried and 
are. unchaste ; for the Lord has established His law, in our nature 
and constitution, and has declared it by His word ; and each trans- 
gression will inevitably bring its own retribution and self-executing 
judgment. 

One more example I shall offer. 

If we look through all physical creation, we behold one common 
law of gravitation, upholding the universe of orbs in their motions, 
and impelling them as by one will. Every thing is manifestly the 
work of one hand, and obeys one government ; and without this law, 
anarchy and chaos would instantly confound the heaven and earth. 

How then can we imagine, that spirit has been less cared for, by 
the Almighty, than matter. It is evident, that the universe of 
spiritual creations, immensely greater in number, as we may suppose, 
and more varied and complex in their operations than matter, cannot 
be brought into, nor retained in harmony and happiness, without 
continually obeying the one immutable will of the Lord, and re- 
volving around Him, under the impulse of unceasing and universal 
love, which is the law of spirit. 

This truth, which is written on the natural heavens, is contained, 
also, in the revealed word of God ; and we are taught its force, not 
by one only, but by many types. The whole creation of man, who 
are united to God by a living faith, are represented as many 
members of the one body of our Lord, animated by one spirit or 
soul ; and as a sane man, does not tear nor devour his own flesh, 
but cherishes it; and as the members have the same care, one for 
another, (since, if one suffers, all must suffer with it,*) therefore we 
perceive that the love of God and of our neighbor, is the love of 
ourselves ; and we rejoice in both, knowing and feeling, that the 
law of holiness, is identical with the law of happiness. 

I might enumerate many other examples, but these are sufficient 
to assure us, that nature and revelation never differ, and that our 
reason, or all the faculties wherewith our Creator has endowed us, 
must be our guide and test in receiving and understanding the 
divine word : for with reference to this word, are our faculties made. 

• 1 Cor. xii. 25, 26. 



150 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

We will now proceed to consider the subject of types, a subject 
of most immense importance in the study of the Bible. It is but 
natural to believe, that the whole physical creation, is subordinate 
to the spiritual creation ; as the image and likeness of the Deity, are 
of more dignity than the qualities of mere matter. Hence we might 
draw the conclusion, that all the forms, organizations, and actions, 
of physical things, are intended to minister to the use, or to our 
knowledge of the world of spirits, and we may readily perceive, 
that they v/ould frequently be applied as figures, types, or parables. 
But let us never forget the rule, which has been mentioned. Only 
by the complete harmony of natural reason and revelation, can we 
be assured that a doctrine or interpretation is correct, and if any 
construction, which I may offer, shall be found improbable, unrea- 
sonable, or insufficient, let it at once be rejected, or held over for 
further deliberation, and more mature judgment. For we must be 
content with no less certainty in spiritual, than in natural science, 
and must destroy the empire of dogmas in religion, as well as in 
philosophy. 

Among the first figures, which we meet in the Bible, as illustrative 
of the carnal heart, is "the dust of the ground," formed into an 
organized body, called also the flesh. When used in this figurative 
sense, the word flesh denotes all who live in sin, and is an emblem 
to denote their grovelling and corrupt desires, and the effervescing, 
decomposing, and putrescent nature of their enjoyments and attain- 
ments. For persons so living, are called dead, although they live ; 
for they are dead to holiness^ but alive to sin. They are, therefore, 
considered as dead, putrid bodies, sendins: up their stench to 
Heaven, and being a prey for undying worms, and fuel for fire, 
which shall never be quenched. 

Opposed to the flesh, is the mind or the Spirit of God, to denote 
the union of the soul of man with God, by a living faith. This is 
the new or the spiritual man, as distinguished from the old or the 
earthly or fleshly man. The new man is dead to sin, but alive to 
holiness ; yet, although he is thus arisen from the dead, he is said 
to be slain by, or through the word of God, and the testimony of 
Christ, which he holds ; for he is slain to sin, and his carnal enmity 
no more lives, but Christ liveth in him, and therefore, also, his life 
is said to be hid with Christ in God.* 

«* Col, iii. 3. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 151 

This type of flesh, is instructive in lessons, of unspeakable 
utility. How are the atoms of matter, which compose the human 
body, preserved in vitality ? and how is it, that they exist together 
as one body, having an upright, beautiful form, and obeying, by a 
most mysterious law, the action of the mind or soul ? Can any one 
solve the mystery of the living union of soul and body? If, there- 
fore, we comprehenfl not earthly things, which are continually 
occurring within and around us, how shall we be able to see, as 
without mystery, all the invisible things of God? Be humble, and 
wait the instruction of the Lord, for we comprehend the fact of the 
existence of many truths, although we cannot comprehend the 
manner, and as time rolls on, and our experience and observation 
are enlarged, the spirit of truth gradually unfolds many more points 
to our understanding, which before were sealed in darkness, and 
thus we shall ever increase. Many ages gone by, the science of 
the wind, and indeed all the four elements, as they were called, of 
fire, air, earth, and water, were involved in obscurity, and their 
phenomena may have been familiarly spoken of, as illustrations or 
proverbs, to denote inscrutable mystery : but now we are far better 
instructed on these subjects, although even at present, we under- 
stand them not fully. Time, also, will explain the mysteries of 
mind. 

This type or parable of the flesh or body, includes the acces- 
sorial types or figures of bread, wine, and other aliments, together 
with the various operations of a living body, and the means of 
cleansing and purifying it. For as the body is sustained and grows 
by food, so the spirit lives and grows by the word of God, and as 
water cleanses external impurity, so must our spirits be immersed 
into and bathed by the holiness proceeding from the throne of God. 
But there is even still a more minute analogy, comprehended under 
the type. For as the living healthy body continually sends off 
certain excrementitious parts, by the glands and in divers ways, 
which, if they remain with us, become ofiensive and pestilential, so 
our souls, living by faith in God, continually separate and cast off 
the errors of ignorance, and we make haste to cover and repair 
them, that they may do no injury. As food received into the body, 
must be digested and pass through the circulation, in order to form 
new additions to our structure, so each disciple of our Lord, must 
digest his own spiritual bread, and no one can live by a crude faith 
not acted upon by his own organs of knowledge and will. 



152 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

I do not doubt that persons acquainted with the anatomy and 
physiology of the human body, might exhibit'this type under very 
pleasing and instructive forms, applicable to a very great variety of 
instances in spiritual life. But one caution I would suggest. 
Remember, that a type or parable, from its very nature, imports 
an analoo^y of meaning, and not an identity of essence or action: 
for it is the transfer of a word or sentetice, from its literal 
signification, to a similitude. The letter kills ; it is the spirit or 
intention that gives life. Christ says, " the words that I speak 
unto you, they are spirit, and they are life,"* meaning that we are 
not to interpret them, according to the flesh or letter, but according 
to the design. Jeremiah wrote in a book, all the evil that should 
come upon Babylon, and directed Seraiah, that when he should 
arrive at Babylon, he should read the words, and then bind the 
book to a stone, and cast it into the Euphrates, and say, " thus shall 
Babylon sink, and shall not rise from the evil."t But what reason- 
able person, would judge from this figure, that Babylon was 
actually and literally to become a stone, with a book tied around it, 
and to sink in the Euphrates ! Christ's body is a type, not of our 
bodies, but of our souls, and therefore, the parable of His body is to 
be spiritually accomplished in our hearts ; for the kingdom of God 
is within us. We may call a man a fox, a bear, a lion, or a leopard, 
yet we know that he is neither of these things literally; and 
although in many respects, the similitude or analogy holds, there are 
limits where it ends. A dead fleshly body, is a type or figure of a 
spirit living without faith in God : the spirit, however, is not 
literally or actually dead in essence, but is a living and acting spirit 
in all manner of wickedness ; yet it is absolutely and entirely dead 
to all holiness^ and all its wishes and hopes will be decomposed and 
shall pass away ; for only the will of God can endure forever. 
When it is said that the dead shall hear the word of God, and they 
who hear shall live, or that, as the dead body of Christ arose from 
the grave and ascended to heaven, so must we arise and ascend ; 
these words, I apprehend, are to be received in the spirit, not the 
letter. Those who are dead to holiness, are awakened by the word 
of divine truth, and if they do really hear and obey, they then 
spiritually arise from the grave of unbelief, and ascend to heaven, 
by faith in the operation of God, and do judgment and justice. 

♦John vi. 63. f Jeremiah li. 60-64. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 153 

Every inward condition of the niind, has its corresponding and 
appropriate outward condition of works and circumstances ; for 
works may be considered as nothing but living faith : and it is folly 
to talk of separating them. The outward condition of the world, 
so far as it is produced or influenced by human actions, is always 
in conformity with the inward condition or mind of the world ; for 
a state of blood in the heart, produces a state of blood outwardly, 
and an age of darkness does the deeds of darkness. A state of 
death and hell, in our spiritual condition, is accompanied always 
by a state of death and hell in the body, or outward condition : and 
therefore righteousness is clothed with white, and wickedness with 
blood, darkness, and death. But it is, notwithstanding, the heart, 
or the inward condition of man, which is the immediate object of the 
divine commandment and promise ; for as wisdom says, " my son, 
attend to my words ; incline thine ear unto my sayings ; let them 
not depart from thine eyes ; keep them in the midst of thy heart : 
for they are life, unto those that find them, and health to all their 
flesh : keep thy heart with all diligence, for out of it are the issues 
of life."* The heart is the fountain, whence the stream issues, and 
it is this fount am which is to be made clean. The heart of the 
unrenewed man is a deep or bottomless pit, and from it arise the 
smoke of fire, and the legions of satan, which darken the earth. It 
is the heart, which, in the spiritual man, is the seat of the empire of 
the Son of God, and therefore, it is the heart, which, in the carnal 
man, is the seat of the becist. Some persons assume great credit to 
themselves, by asserting a carnal, sensual fulfilment of the prophe- 
cies contained in the revelation of God, as if thereby, they did the 
Lord more honor, by not disputing, as they think, His word. They 
eat the flesh, and they drink the blood of Christ, by eating and 
drinking the sacramental bread and wine, and they wash out their 
sins, by going down into the water. Instead of honoring^ they 
dishonor God, by making his commandments of no effect, and fall 
into the same error with the Scribes and Pharisees, who rejected and 
slew the Lord, because He came not according to their sensual and 
evil notions. There is, indeed, a literal fulfilment of every promise 
and threat in the Scriptures ; but to behold it, you must see first the 
spiritual fulfilment within, and then you will be at no loss to 
discern the literal or bodily fulfilment, in all the works of man. 

* Proy. ir. 20-23. 
20 



154 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

During more than fifteen hundred years, the professing churches 
of Christ, have been groaning under this literal fulfilment of the 
plagues, and the vials of the wrath of God ; also the dead bodies 
of the Jewish and Gentile churches, separated both from the truths 
of Moses and of Christ, have now, for a long time, encumbered 
every street and city, in spiritual Sodom and Egypt ; yet carnal 
and sensual Liter alists, will not suffer their dead bodies to be put 
into graves, or removed from sight. The Mosaic Jews claim a 
literal fulfilment in the advent of a Christ, to kill or enslave the 
Gentiles, and erect a carnal Jerusalem : and the Christian Gentiles, 
who are as ignorant of the Father and the Son, as the Jews are, claim 
a literal fulfilment in the advent of a Christ, to kill and cast into an 
eternal hell, each man who differs from themselves, and to erect a 
carnal and sensual kingdom for the saints I What saints ? 
Saints, who will not touch the spiritual commandment of God, 
with one of their fingers ! The commandment is, that they shall 
now, at this instant, arise from the dead, and ascend to the throne 
of God, executing judgment and justice ; but their reply is, come 
down from the cross, and we will believe. They live in sin, and 
rejoice and make merry, and send gifts and congratulations to each 
other, for their supposed Christian attainments, and a fancied 
millennial dawn, or day of the destruction of their enemies ; but 
while they hold in their hands the golden vessels, which were taken 
out of the temple or the house of God,* their hearts are filled with 
malignity against the Spirit of the Lord ; His law is a torment to 
them. Barabbas is their idol and Christ they know not. 

Most undoubtedly, the providential government of Jehovah, in 
regard to the physical structure and changes of the heavens and 
earth, is always literally directed by Him, with express reference to 
His spiritual purposes and government. The actions of physical 
fire and of floods, the occurrence of droughts, the falling of rains, 
and every circumstance, from the greatest to the least, in the mate- 
rial creation, and its changes, are always, I do not question, fore- 
ordained by the Lord, with a view to His kingdom, in the hearts of 
His people. With this subordination of matter to mind, I believe 
that the universe has always been, and always will be, conducted. 
The world now, and at all times, has been, and is, undergoing revo- 
lutions, either suddenly or gradually, by water and fire, and it may 

* Daniel v. 3. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 155 

not be improbable, that, at some future day, the whole face of our 
earth will exhibit a new aspect, not only by the action of the hand 
of man, in war or peace, but by the mighty power of God, in con- 
vulsions or conflagrations. This may be so ; I do not say that it 
will be ; I am ignorant on the subject, and wait the development of 
further knowledge. But certain am I, from a comparison of all the 
texts of Scripture, that the change spoken of in the Bible, as happen- 
ing at the END of the world, is not a destruction of this kind. On 
the contrary, old things are passed away, and all things are made 
new, when the dead souls of men are arisen from the grave of unbe- 
lief, and are made new creatures in Christ Jesus, obeying the law 
of love. Then it is that we put off the old man, which is corrupt, 
according to deceitful lusts ; we speak every man truth with his 
neighbour, as co-members of the one body of God ; our Lord dwells 
among and reigns with us, and the fruit of His Spirit shall be 
righteousness, and joy, and peace. 

The word fire is, in numerous places in the Bible, employed to 
denote a spiritual action. I need cite only a few instances. Moses 
says, " The Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous GodP^ 
He appeared to Moses in a burning bush, and led forth Israel in a 
pillar of cloud and of fire, and, at Sinai, His law was delivered in 
the midst of flames. His ministers are called a flame of fire.f 
Daniel, speaking of the Lord, says, "A fiery stream issued and 
came forth from before Him.":j: Malachi asks, *' Who may abide 
the day of His coming 1 for He is like a refiner's fire, and like 
fullers' soAP,"§ to denote the cleansing operation of His word. " Is 
not my word like as a fire, saith the Lord, and like a hammer, 
that breaketh the rock in pieces T'l| Christ says, "I am come to 
send FIRE on the earth, and what will I, if it be kindled already?"^ 
His baptism is a baptism with fire. It consumes wickedness. The 
righteous dwell securely in the midst of the devouring flames which 
surround the throne of God; for the fire has no power to act 
against the truth : the upright are in safety, as the three men men- 
tioned by Daniel in the burning fiery furnace.** But the wicked 
are not in safety ; for wickedness burns as a fire ; it kindles a fire 
and sends up its smoke ; and the unholy are " as the fuel of the 
fire."tt The Lord says, " Break up your fallow ground, and sow 

* Deut. iv. 24. t Heb. i. .7 % Dan. vii. 10. § MaL iii. 2. 

II Jer. xxiii. 29. IT Luke xii. 49. ** Dan. iii. 27. tt Isai. ix. 18, 19. 



156 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

not among thorns; circumcise yourselves to the Lord, and take 
away the foreskins of your heart, ye men of Judah and inhabit- 
ants of Jerusalem, lest my fury come forth like a jire^ and burn, 
that none can quench it, because of the evil of your doings."* 
Malachi has these words, " For behold, the day cometh, that shall 
hum as an oven, and all the froud, yea, and all that do wickedly, 
shall be stubble, and the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith 
the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch. 
But;unto you that /ear my name, shall the Son of Righteousness 
arise with healing in His wings, and ye shall go forth, and grow 
UP AS CALVES OF THE STALL, and ye shall tread down the wicked ; 
for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet, in the day that 
I shall do this, saith the Lord of hosts."t What ! when the day 
of Christ came, which burnt as an oven, were the righteous, 
literally, as calves of the stall ! How can any one be in doubt 
about these or the like passages '? Most certainly the wickedness of 
the world is a fierce and burning fire, which, under the law of God, 
consumes and destroys the strength and happiness of all who put 
their trust in it ; this, the fearful calamities of mankind, and the 
desolations of empires and of countries, too well attest. But the 
love of Jehovah is stronger than the hate of man, and His word, 
as a flaming and a sharp two-edged sword, shall finally prevail over 
all opposition ; it will enter the heart, remove and destroy all dis- 
guises, eradicate every principle of enmity, and slay the world, by 
destroying its wickedness ; nor can it ever cease its conquests, till 
every adversary shall have been brought to submit himself to the 
salvation of the Lamb of God. 

I come now to the consideration of another type, viz : the taber- 
nacle of Moses, or, which represents the same thing, the temple 
of Solomon. In elucidating this subject, I shall follow the excellent 
Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews, and, because this Epistle is greatly 
misunderstood, I shall endeavor to remove the obscurities from it. 

Paul is contrasting the two temples, and priesthoods, with their 
services. This he does, in order to show the superiority of the 
Christian temple and ministry over the Mosaic. 

The Jewish people, and rites or ordinances, were only angels or 
messengers, to bring in Christ. God spake to the Jews by the pro- 
phets ; but, under the Christian dispensation. He speaks to us Him- 

* Jer. iv. 3, 4. t Mai. iv. 1-3. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 157 

self, in the body of Christ, and the Jewish institutions, having 
performed their office, are folded up as a vesture, and laid aside. 

Therefore, we should give earnest heed to do the word of Christ. 
For if the word, under the Mosaic law, w^as steadfast, how shall we 
escape condemnation, if, with so many more advantages on our 
side, we do wrong 1 Beside, the ministry of the Jews never had 
the promise of universal dominion ; but Christ, as the Son of Man, 
has that promise : for all things are put, or to be placed, in subjec- 
tion nnder His feet. We do not see the accomphshment of that 
yet brought to pass ; but Ave shall see it. However, w^e do see 
Jesus, who, *' FOR A SHORT TIME,"* was Subjected to, or made lower 
than Moses, through the suffering of death, crowned with glory 
and honor ; that He, by the love of God, should taste death for 
every man, and in this manner purchase His kingdom. As He is 
our Father, and we are made in His image, He, by the assumption 
of our body, exhibited His kindred to ns, and bore our sins, as our 
paschal Lamb, destroying our enmity by His atonement on the 
cross. He is our only sacrifice. Although born mider, and for a 
short time subject to the law of Moses, He did not take on Him the 
nature of the covenant to Moses under the ceremonial laAv ; but He 
holds His kingdom by right of the promise made to Abraham, which 
is of this nature : '' I will put my laws into their mind, and write 
them in their hearts, and I will be to them a God, and they shall 
be to me a people." This covenant, (which was the spirit of the 
promise to Abraham,) the law, which was four hundred and thirty 
years afterwards, cannot disannul, that it should make the promise 
of no effect.t 

Does any one object to Christ, that He sprang out of Judah, and 
not from Levi, and that, of the tribe of Judah, Moses spake nothing 
concerning the priesthood? But what difference does this make ? 
For Christ does not claim the priesthood, in right of Moses, after the 
law of a carnal commandment ; but He obtains it after the power of 
an endless life in righteousness. And let no one suppose, that this 
spiritual priesthood in righteousness, was ever inferior to a priesthood 
having its beginning in a ceremonial law. For Melchizedec was a 
priest of this high order. He was without father or mother, in any 
tribe to which the priesthood w^as promised, and, therefore, he was 
without any right by descent ; neither was he ever set apart for the 

* See the Greek iersi. f Compare the whole of Galatians with Hebrews. 



158 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

priesthood, by sacrifices or human ordination, at the beginning of his 
days ; nor did his priesthood end by death : but being a spiritual 
priest, of the same order with the Son of God, his soul or spirit 
remains a priest continually. Now, consider how great this priest- 
hood is ! For Levi, who was in the loins of Abraham, paid tithes to 
Melchizedec, in the act of the patriarch Abraham. Melchizedec 
was a priest even greater in righteousness than Abraham ; how then 
can any one pretend, that the priesthood of this order is inferior to 
the order of Aaron, or entertain the judaizing notion, that perfection 
must come by the Levitical law. 

Of what we have said, this is the substance. Our High Priest, 
Christ Jesus, is a Spiritual Priest. His temple is not made with 
hands, but is eternal in the heavens. It is true. He has gifts to 
offer; but they are more excellent gifts than carnal ordinances, 
although if you regard them correctly, those ordinances, under 
Moses, were in reality types or shadows of the truth. This may 
be plainly seen. For compare the two temples and their ser- 
vices. There was, under Moses, a tabernacle made. It consisted 
of two parts ; the first, w^herein was the candlestick, and the table, 
and the shew bread. This apartment was called the " Sanctuary ;" 
and into it, the priests went always, accomplishing the will of God. 
After this apartment, came the place called '' The Holiest of allj'^ 
which was separated from the sanctuary, by the second veil. 
Into this second tabernacle, or holy of holies, only the high priest 
went alone, once every year, not without blood, which he offered 
for himself and the people. After the high priest had thus entered 
within the second veil, he received there from the Lord, the judg- 
ment or sentence of Urim and Thummim, or he was made to 
understand the Divine will; and he then came out, or appeared 
again, from the second veil, and announced to the congregation, 
who were looking for or expected his coming, the will of the Father, 
and made them understand the words or directions of the Most 
High.* All this is an emblem of Christ in His spiritual kingdom. 
Christ is our High Priest. The holy of holies, where dwells the 
presence of God, is heaven.t The body of Christ, is the veil. 
Christ, by His own blood, having entered into heaven, shall, to 
those who look for Him, in faith, appear or come again, from the 
second veil, without sin, unto salvation, viz : as the Comforter, or 
Spirit of Truth, announcing the judgment of Urim and Thummim. t 

*Exod. xxYiii.SOj Num. xxrii. 21. tHeb.ix.24. :j:Ezra.ii.63; Neh. vii.65i Actsi. 11. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 159 

That this paraphrase of Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, is correct, 
I appeal to every one, who has the freedom and knowledge to 
examine the Greek text for himself. After reading the letter to the 
Galatians, read carefully all the letter to the Hebrews, as it is now 
translated ; and then take up your Greek testament, and compare 
the phrase " ek Deiiterou " in Heb. ix. 28, with the language and 
scope of the 3d, 6th, 7th, 8th, and 12th verses of the same chapter, 
and you will see that the meaning is such as I have stated.* 

From this typical character of the Mosaic temple and ceremonies, 
and the fulfilment of them in the Spirit of Christ, we need be at 
no loss to understand all that the Scriptures say, concerning the 
Advent of our Lord. His advent is always nigh at hand. The 
kingdom of God is within you ; and Christ there continually reigns 
with his saints : He is forever announcing to us, the judgment of 
Urim and Thummim. He is continually delivering His people ; 
He is continually casting down and destroying Egypt. But you do 
not desire, such a day of the Lord ; that heaven which consists in 
love and good works, is not pleasing to you ; the fruits of righte- 
ousness, which repay themselves, are not heaven enough for you ; 
you desire a bloody and fierce conquering Christ, who shall literally 
burn up, not the sins of your enemies, but their very souls and 
bodies ; and confine them, without hope of redemption, in a hell of 
fire and brimstone, without end ! You rejoice in thinking of such 
a day of the Lord, when God shall arise to satiate His thirsting 
vengeance, not in corrective, redeeming punishment, but in cruel 
destruction and satanic wrath. This suits your ideas of a Barabbas 
Christ. God was once amiable, you think — He was once, mild, 
forgiving, and willing, and able to save to the uttermost, all who 
came to Him by faith ; but the time is near, when He will revel 
in the pleasures of Moloch. This you fancy to yourselves ; and 

* Note. I have mentioned this subject, in " The Seals Opened, or a Voice to the 
Jews,'^ in my comments on Hebrews. I think it right also to state here, what I have 
suggested in my former work, in regard to the word " testament,'" which is used in our 
translation, instead o{ '^ covenant." In this chapter (ix. Heb.) where ^'testament" 
occurs, read "covenant ;'" and translate the 16th and 17th verses, thus ; — "For where 
a covenant is, there must also of necessity be the death of that which is offered, (or 
appointed as the victim :) for a covenant is confirmed upon the dead ; otherwise it is 
of no strength at all, while that which is offered lives." I am not sure as to this trans- 
lation ; but I submit it to those who are better acquainted with the original than myself. 
It was the custom to confirm covenants by sacrifices. But whether I am right or wrong 
in my suggestion concerning these verses, I feel no doubt that I am correct in what I 
have said concerning the coming of our Lord {ek Deuterou)—from the second veil. 



1 

I 



160 RULES FOR INTERPRETATTOPT. 

your hearts burn with dehght, at the thought of the evil which in 
to consume your wretched neighbors, friends, parents, husbands, 
wives, children. But wo unto you, who desire such a day of the 
Lord ! " To what end is it for you : the day of the Lord is dark- 
ness and not light,"* to all who look for the Lord in such a spirit. 
In rushing from one of your false doctrines to another, you are like 
a man, who, in fleeing from a lion, encounters a bear ; or who, in 
entering his supposed sanctuary or temple, leans his hand on the 
wall, and is suddenly stung by a serpent. f Your songs are discord, 
and your righteousness wormwood ; and all ye, who look for this 
Barabbas Christ, are among the very worst men in the land. The 
day of the Lord will sweep away your refuge of lies, and the deep 
waters will overflow your hiding places : and when " the overflowing 
scourge shall pass through, then, ye shall be trodden down by it."t 
But those who truly look for the advent of our Lord, by faith 
and watching, shall see and understand the day of His judgment 
both in the heart, within, and in the body, without ; or both in the 
mental or spiritual condition of the world, and its outward and 
physical works and phenomena. It is the wicked, not the righteous^ 
who are overtaken and destroyed by the day. They are in Babylon ; 
but they see not the land, because their eyes are put out. The 
plagues of blood, darkness, and death and hell, destroy them without 
their knowledge ; and they blasphemously lift up their polluted 
hands to God, in prayer, even when they smite and reject Him, and 
lead Hina forth to crucify Him. Christ says to the church of Sardis, 
*' If therefore, thou shalt not watch, I will come on thee, as a thief, 
and thou shalt not know, what hour, I will come on thee."§ The 
destruction of Egypt is the coming of Christ, as well as the salva- 
tion of Israel. So that each moment, day, month, )^ear, and century, 
exhibit forever the coming of the Messiah, inwardly and outwardly, 
to each man, and to the whole world ; yea, to His whole creation, 
with judgment and justice. But emphatically particular events 
of great general importance, as signal deliverances or captivities, 
are sometimes spoken of as the day of the Lord : not that the Lord 
is not always present ; but on such occasions. His providences pro- 
duce a new era and order of things ; and thenceforward, the actions 
of men flow on in new channels. The destruction of Jerusalem, 
was such a day of the Lord, to the Jews. We ourselves, in this 

* Amos. V. 18. t Amos v. 19. % Isai. xxviii. 17, IS. § Key. iii. S. 



RULES OF INTERPRETATION. 161 

age of the world, are on the eve of such a great and terrible day of the 
Lord ; for the axe is now laid to the roots of nations, and the proud and 
the haughty will become as stubble for the fire. Let no one pride 
himself in the liberty of his country, the freedom of her institu- 
tions, the strength of her armies, the courage and glory of her 
navies ; nor in her wealth, extent of territory, amount of population, 
variety and abundance of her manufactures, nor the grandeur and 
vastness of her empire. For all these things are the gifts of God, 
which, in His goodness. He bestowed upon us, and in His mercy, 
He has so long continued, that He might be glorified in our use of 
them ; and as surely as God exists, so surely will He demand from 
men and nations, a just and accurate account of every thought, 
word, and action. The hand writing is registered on the wall, against 
the present age ; and fearful beyond all description or imagination, 
will be the destruction that is to take place, unless men repent. 
It is certainly not my purpose to mention all the types, which 
are employed in the Scriptures ; I design only to state some, and 
to explain the principles upon which I think they should be inter- 
preted. In my opinion, they are very easily understood ; they 
require a diligent attention to the whole context, and to the manner 
in which the holy penmen use the same words, types, and figures 
in other portions of the sacred writings ; when we candidly adopt 
this means, we shall soon find that every difficulty vanishes. Many 
men, at the present day, are under a great error in supposing that 
the Old Scriptures are of little worth, compared with the new ; or 
that the new contain any other doctrine, than what is stated in the 
old. On the contrary, the evangelists and apostles declare nothing 
else than what Moses and the prophets taught beforehand ; and 
both the Old and the New Scriptures exhibit to us the same history 
of the one God. Paul says, " all Scripture is given by inspiration 
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for 
instruction in righteousness ; that the man of God may be perfect, 
thoroughly furnished unto all good works."* It was of the Old Scrip- 
tures, that Paul spoke this : for we have no reason to believe that the 
New Book was then completed, even if it were written. The fact 
is, that the Old Books are really of indispensable utility. For 
Christ can of Himself, (namely, in a distinct and independent rela- 
tion, separated from what is before ordained and declared concern- 

♦ 2 Tim.iii. 16, 17. 

21 



162 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

ing Him,) do nothing ; He executes only those things, of which 
Moses and the prophets bear witness. Neither in His risen character 
as the Comforter, or the Spirit of Truth, when He comes again from 
the second veil, to declare the judgment of Urim and Thummim, 
can He do any thing of Himself, by an independent mission ; that 
is to say, without reference to the prophecies which went before on 
Him. F'or notwithstanding Christ is God, He has chosen to bind 
Himself by His own word, and to make the unfolding of Himself, 
in the person of Jesus, only a developement of those same laws, 
which He has prescribed for the sons of man, in whose relation He 
stands. Hence it is that Christ says of the Holy Spirit, what He 
says also of Himself, as the Son,* " He shall not speak of Himself, 
but whatsoever He shall hear, that shall He speak : and He will 
shew you things to come ; He shall glorify me, for He shall receive 
of mine, and shall shew it unto you.'^t The Father, the Son, and 
the Holy Spirit, being the names of the three relations and offices 
of the One God, are so connected, that the Son proceeds from the 
Father, and speaks nothing but what was fore-ordained ; and the 
Holy Spirit proceeds from the Father and the Son, and is equally 
bound by what is written. Therefore let every disciple of Christ, 
be constantly diligent in the reading and study of Moses and the 
prophets ; for how else can you see or discover the fulness of the 
increasing purpose of God ? By the knowledge of this connexion 
between the three relations of our Lord, you will be guarded, also, 
against impostures. For does any Anti-Christ come, teaching that 
he himself is some great one, and claiming to have dominion over 
you ? Turn, then to Moses and the prophets, and ask, '' what is 
written in the law ; how readest thou ?"t This is an all-impor- 
tant question, " what is written ?" " To this law, and to the 
testimony ; if they speak not according to the tvord, it is because 
there is no light in them."§ Hereby you shall escape false Christs. 
You shall also, by the same rule, escape false comforters. For 
never forget, that the holy Ghost does not speak of Himself; but 
He speaks only what He has heard. Search the Scriptures ; 
both the Old and Neio Books, as speaking of or fulfilled in Christ. 
And let no man palm upon you, any doctrine as the word of God, 
but what you find there written and revealed. 

* John V. 30. t John xvi. 13, 14. t Like x. 26. § Isaiah viii. 20. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 163 

I do not think that any person can fully understand the New- 
Scriptures, without a familiar acquaintance with the Old. Our 
Saviour and His disciples, spoke the old language of the prophets, 
and adopted the types, parables, and figures which were prepared 
beforehand for them. You cannot be surprised at this. For all 
devout Jews, were zealous in the study of their sacred books, and 
the images, visions, and even words therein contained, were pre- 
cious to them. When, therefore, they themselves wrote or spoke, 
they would adopt the same, or a like phraseology. Hence you will 
find all through the New Testament, a frequent use of parables, 
types, and exemplifications, derived from the Mosaic laws and 
ordinances ; and even the political or national history of the He- 
brews, their government, the invasions of their country, their cap- 
tivity, and deliverence are employed by John, in the book of 
Revelation, as figurative channels or types for the foretelling of 
events of the very utmost importance to the whole family of man. 

This is so apparent, and removes such a vast load of obscurity 
from the Apocalypse of this prophet, that I will state the figures or 
types at large. 

Canaan is a type of the world, and Israel a type of the church. 
The meek shall inherit the earth ; for as God gave Canaan to Israel, 
to go up and take possession of it, so has He given the whole earth 
to the disciples of Jesus. David says, <'the righteous shall inherit 
the land, and dwell therein forever."* We can no more be per- 
suaded, that our Lord would have created this earth, to be inhabited 
forever by wicked men, than that He would have made it, to be 
the residence perpetually of their types, the huge and hideous 
monsters and beasts of prey, whose creation preceded the formation 
of our first parent. As all the creations before Adam were a pre- 
paration for Adam, so all the events before the full dominion of our 
Lord and Saviour, Christ Jesus, are only a preparation for His 
glorious kingdom. True it is, that all finite objects, fail to represent 
fully the excellency or qualities of Him, who is without spot; no 
type, therefore, can exhibit our Lord in perfection. But yet, we 
must avail ourselves of means suited to our capacities, and must 
remember always, that the glory promised, is greater than any, 
which figures can convey, or mind can conceive, or language of 
man can express. 

* Ps. xxxTii. 29. 



164 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

Seven nations were the heads of Canaan, viz : " the Hittites, 
and the GirgashiteSj and the Amorites, and the CanaaniteSj and 
the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations."* 
These nations were sometimes called Canaanites generally; 
although, strictly speaking, the Canaanites were only one of the 
seven nations ; at other times, it seems that the name of either of 
the seven was also used to denote all of them collectively, as a part 
for the whole. Thus the Lord says, " Yet destroyed I the Amorite 
before them,"t meaning the kingdoms of Canaan. In another place, 
the Lord reproaches Jerusalem for her sins, '^ Thus saith the Lord 
God unto Jerusalem^ thy birth and thy nativity is of the land of 
Canaan ; thy father was an Atnorite^ and thy mother a Hittite ;"t 
intending hereby to exhibit the judgment, or make known the 
abominations of Judah, who, instead of conducting herself as the 
bride of the Lord, was become full of blasphemy, and was arrayed 
in pride, stained with violence, polluted with murder, and wilhngly 
seduced and corrupted by the idolatries of the seven nations, whom 
she had been commanded to drive out from the land : for Judah did 
not destroy the abominations of the seven nations of Canaan ; but 
she built herself high places, after the manner of the Canaanitish 
beast, with the seven heads or kingdoms, and seated herself upon 
the same beastly corruptions with the open enemies of God, although 
she presumed to hold in her hand a golden cup, as if it were the cup 
of the Lord, and she drank wine therein, " and praised the gods 
of goldj and of silver, of brass, of iron, of wood, and of stone." 
But not all at once did the corruptions of Judah reach their height : 
in succession did her crimes increase, and in succession, with great 
mercy, and love, and long-suffering, were the vials of the wrath of 
God poured out in judgment upon her. For if any one will atten- 
tively consider, he will perceive that every occurrence which happens 
to a nation, is a judgment from the hand of God. Unbelieving men 
shut their eyes, and exclude the vision of the great God and Avenger ; 
they continually see false causes for their calamities, and die in 
ignorance of their sentence : hypocritically, or even enthusiastically, 
with a false confidence and fanaticism, they profess to worship, and 
adore,, and rejoice in the Lord. But their peace is false, and they 
will awake from it with fearful horror. Wo unto those who profess 
the name of the Lord and remain in the sins of Canaan. It will be 

* Deut. vii. 1. t Amos ii. 9. t Ezek. xyi. 3. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 165 

more tolerable, in the day of judgment, for Canaan, than for them. 
The destruction of the Amorites and their companions, will be as 
nothing, compared with the ruin and desolation which will overtake 
those who trample upon the blood of Jesus. For as the talents be- 
stowed upon us, so will be the use, required at at our hands. 

The changes in the spiritual condition and judgments of the 
Jews, as recorded in the Bible history, will appear from the follow- 
ing sketch. 

In the time of David, the Jews, as a people, prospered greatly, 
and this successful and victorious reign was succeeded by that of 
Solomon, who enjoyed unexampled peace and abundance, and built 
the temple of the Lord, upon enlarged dimensions, and with beautiful 
workmanship. Messengers and monarchs came from distant parts 
to Solomon, and great multitudes thronged the temple. But at last 
his heart was hfted up with pride and lust ; he bowed down before 
the gods of the Zidonians and Amorites, and forsook the Lord. 
Then God, in His justice and wisdom, wrested ten tribes, horns, or 
powers, from Judah, and established them as a separate kingdom, 
called Samaria, or Israel, under Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, who 
set up his golden calves. These ten tribes, or horns, continued to 
have power for a long period, contemporaneously with Judah, and 
they hated her, made leagues with her enemies, prosecuted wars 
against her, made her desolate and naked, and slew her children, 
and burnt her cities. More especially in the days of the wicked 
Ahaz, Rezin, the king of Syria, and Pekah, of Israel, made a 
conspiracy altogether to destroy Judah; but the Lord frustrated 
their purpose. Ahaz, however, instead of seeking the Lord, and 
depending on His promise, sent messengers to Tiglath-pileser, king 
of Assyria, saying, ** I am thy servant and thy son ; come up and 
save me out of the hand of the king of Syria, and out of the hand 
of the king of Israel."* Syria and Israel were both destroyed ; 
the king of Assyria brought men from Babylon, from Cuthah, and 
from other places, and settled them in the cities of Samaria, instead 
of the children of Israel.t These nations, while ''Xh^y feared the 
Lord," served their own gods, and made for themselves priests out 
of the "lowesf^ of the people. | 

Such was the fate of the ten horns or tribes. Let us see, now, 
the condition of Judah. 

* 2 Kings xy.7. t 2 Kings xyii. 24. t 2 Kings xyii. 32,33, 



166 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

In the fourteenth year of Hezekiah, Sennacherib, king of Assyria, 
came up against Judah, and took many of her fortitied cities. He 
sent Tartan, and Rabsaris, and Rab-shakeh, with a great host, to 
Jerusalem, and insulted Hezekiah, and defied the Lord, pretending 
to be greater than God. But his vauntings were vain. A blast 
came in the night, and smote, in the camp of Assyria, a hundred 
four score and five thousand, and their dead corpses covered the 
ground. So Sennacherib fled, and returned to Nineveh, and 
perished. 

Syria, Assyria, and Egypt, and also the ten tribes, all, in their 
turn, strove against Judah ; but none was permitted altogether to 
prevail. They each had power to hurt and torment her, but not to 
destroy. The power of captivity was reserved for Babylon. This 
little, or base horn, arose after the others and subverted them. In 
due season, and when the iniquities of Zedekiah and the Jews were 
come to the full, the way of Nebuchadnezzar, the monarch of the 
kings of the East, was prepared, and Judah was carried captive 
beyond the Euphrates : there lay the people, in death and captivity, 
for seventy years ; until the Lord judged also that oppressing nation ; 
then suddenly, and with violence, was Babylon destroyed, and the 
Redeemer came to Zion with rejoicing and deliverance. 

I do not suppose that the events in the national history of the 
Jews are prophetic, absolutely, of events in the history of the 
Christian or professing Christian Church ; I have no thought that 
we can tell what is to take place hereafter, by reading the books of 
the Kings and the Chronicles : but I do beheve, that, in certain 
generic respects, there is an analogy in the works and operations of 
wickedness ; unbelief revolves, as it were, in an orbit, and continually 
returns, with like phases, in her successive revolutions. From the 
past we may learn that blood, if not repented of, will always lead to 
dismemberment and darkness, and darkness, unless men repent and 
turn to God, will always lead to captivity, and death, and hell. 
Whether the sects, which separate themselves from an apostatizing 
church, will always remain under one government, as did the ten 
tribes ; or whether they will form distinct and belligerent kingdoms ; 
whether any portion of the professing church will really repent and 
delay their final captivity, as did Judah under Hezekiah ; or whether 
they will persist in continual obstinacy and transgression, are 
questions which must be severally determined by the specific pro- 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 167 

phecies for such purpose, if prophecies have been made, and, if no 
prophecies exist on tlie particular subject, then we must abide the 
instruction of time, and actual experience, or observation. These 
remarks I make, in order that no person may be led into visionary 
attempts at prophecy, by accommodating each event in past history 
to the future ; for although " the thing that hath been, it is that 
which shall 6e, and that which is done, is that which shall be done : 
and there is no new thing under the sun,^^* yet there is a 
difference, as well as a sameness, and possibly no two things will 
ever be found exactly alike. Inquirers in rehgious matters, should 
take instruction from inquirers and philosophers in astronomy and 
natural science, who are not deluded, by some resemblances, into a 
hasty conjecture and hypothesis, that all things are the same. But 
they diligently observe and compare every object and phenomenon ; 
and thus, not by creating, but by discovering knowledge, they 
ascertain that the motions of bodies, notwithstanding they are 
governed by the same general laws, are, from a thousand varying 
influences, of very different velocities and circuits, and that com- 
binations of the same elements may be of endless diversity in figure 
and action. 

St. John, in the Revelation, beheld the future history of the 
world and of the church. He was made to understand the vision ; 
for he was shown the judgment ; that is, he was made to under- 
stand the judgment of the woman upon the beast. The whole 
vision was presented to him, miraculously, by the power of God ; 
but yet, I presume that the Lord, in acting upon the faculties of 
John, conveyed the information to him, by the types which were 
at once, the most expressive of the subject, and suited to the indi- 
vidual turn of mind and disposition, or cast of character of the 
prophet. For if I mistake not, it is generally admitted, that the 
peculiar temperament of each prophet, in the holy writings, is, in 
some degree at least, discernable in the manner of his prophecy. 
But be this as it may, it is certain that to any ardent mind, deeply 
read in the Jewish history, and beholding the enormity of the 
abominations of that people, tracing also, with unerring and revealed 
certainty, the causes of the divine wrath and judgment upon the 
land, the great, leading national events, which I have mentioned, 
might be condensed into a hieroglyph, or a single metaphorical 

» Eccl. i. 9. 



168 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

picture, exhibiting the spiritual character of the times. For instance : 
suppose I wish to relate that the children of Israel, after being 
settled in the Land of Canaan, disobeyed the commands of God, 
and did not destroy the idolatries of the Canaanites, but engrafted 
their own rehgion upon that of the seven Canaanitish heads or 
nations ; that they did the deeds of a Hon, a bear, and of a leopard, 
and lay in wait to catch the prey, and devoured men ; that God, 
therefore, dismembered them, and broke them into schisms, by 
separating Samaria, or the ten tribes, from Judah ; that they were 
not reformed by this judgment, but both Israel and Judah went on, 
multiplying their sins more and more ; that the abominations of 
Judah, however, exceeded the abominations of her sister Samaria ;* 
and that Judah, by reason of her unexampled ingratitude to God, 
her depravity and infidelity, became as a harlot, or an adulterous, 
imperious woman, corrupting the earth by her wickedness, and 
committing all manner of lewdness, even while she pretended to 
hold the golden cup of sacramental, divine communion in her hand, 
and to be clothed and adorned with the riches and ornaments, pro- 
per to the bride of God ! How could I portray these truths under 
a more expressive hieroglyph, than a beast rising up out of the sea 
of wickedness, having seven heads, typical of the Amorites, the 
Hittites, and other nations of Canaan ; and ten horns, emblematic 
of Samaria ; and upon his heads the name of blasphemy ; his body 
formed with the monstrous parts or members of a leopard, and a 
bear, and a lion ; and a woman, typical of Judah, seated upon this 
beast : both the woman and the beast covered with broidered work, 
and decked with the ornaments and rich clotiiing, stolen from the 
temple of God ; she having, in her hand, a golden cup full of 
abominations, and filthiness of her fornication ; but upon her 
forehead, a name written — Mystery, Babylon the Great, the 
Mother of Harlots, and Abominations of the Earth ? The 
fact is, that the elements from which this beast is combined or put 
together, are actually applied to the condition of Israel and Judah, 
by the Lord, in the old Scriptures ; as you will abundantly see, by 
reading Ezek., chapters xvi. xix. and xxiii.: in turning to those parts 
of the Bible, let us, while we hate the mention of the names of our 
crimes, search our hearts, to know whether we equally hate the 
commission of them. 

* Erek. xyi. 61. 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 169 

If I were disposed to carry on the full history of ancient Judah, 
by additional hieroglyphics, I might, after representing the blasphem- 
ous beast and the woman, whom I have described, proceed to 
picture three horns, viz : Syria, Assyria, and Egypt, who, with the 
ten horns, or Samaria, hated the w^oman, or false church, and 
made her naked. And after these horns, I might figure another 
mean and contemptible, or little horn, viz : Babylon, under Nebu- 
chadnezzar, arising with power, and plucking up by the roots, the 
first horns, and carrying also Judah into captivity : this state of 
captivity of Judah, might be presented under the parable or type 
of a dead body, lying polluted in the streets of Babylon, until the 
spirit of divine life, or repentance and righteous judgment, viz : the 
knowledge and love of truth, re-entered into the souls of the Jews ; 
whereupon, by faith they arose from the dead ; and holiness, or the 
name of the Father, was written on their foreheads, instead of the 
name of blasphemy and wickedness. Under like figures or hiero- 
glyphics, I might exhibit, in pictures or parables, all the events in the 
destruction of Babylon ; the deliverance and righteousness of Zion; 
the building of the second temple ; and the subsequent falling away 
of the Jews again ; and their captivity and death under Herod and 
the Romans. 

But remember, it is not the actual history of the ancient Mosaic 
Church, which John, in the book of Revelation, is presenting to 
us, but it is the history of the world and of the church, from 
the time of our Saviour, comprehending all who are called by the 
name of Christ, whether they be real believers, or only false pro- 
fessors. Therefore, although John does take his figures and types 
from the Old Scriptures, he combines them in such a way, that they 
imbody to us, not the actual history of ancient Judah, but the 
history of the real or professing church of Christ, and of mankind, 
from the time of our Lord, to the end or final termination of death 
and hell. By an attention to this fact, we shall perceive that the 
particular combinations of the hieroglyphics, which I have above 
suggested, as typical of the identical, or full history of ancient 
Judah, would not be representative of the actual history of mankind 
and of the professing churches of Christ, any more than the ancient 
books of Kings and of Chronicles, could actually detail the events 
of modern history. Hence you will understand, why it is that St. 
John, in the Revelation, combines his hieroglyphics in such a man- 
22 



170 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 



ner, and with such order of succession, as to suit, not the history of 
ancient Judah, but the history of Christianity, real or professed, 
and of the world, since the time of our blessed Saviour. 

I have mentioned the beasts, viz : the lion, bear, and leopard, as 
types. These animals are all beasts of prey; yet their habits pnd 
tempers are very different. Sometimes they are used in a compara- 
tive sense, viz: the lion to denote a state of blood ; the bear to denote 
a state of darkness ; and the leopard to denote a state of increased 
deceitful, and confirmed spiritual death. At least, such a compara- 
tive gradation in the expression or force of the terms, appears to me 
to be intended, in one or more passages of Scripture. Each spiritual 
condition, however, expressed by these types, in a bad sense, is a 
state of death and hell ; for blood, darkness, and death, are all states 
of condemnation and alienation from God, and each one implies the 
former ; although, unquestionably, the spirit of blood, if persisted in, 
is followed by greater mental darkness, and blood and darkness, if 
continued, degenerate more and more into hardened, depraved, and 
deceitful blasphemy. When represented as existing together, as 
one beast, formed of these parts, they describe, as I conceive, a con- 
dition of society upon which the Lord has poured out His plagues 
of blood, darkness, and death — not perhaps seen, thus distinctly, in 
one nation only, but rather in many or all nations, when we 
extend our view over the whole earth. However, as to these and 
other types to denote qualities, I do not advise any person to judge 
of them simply by themselves, as if the same word or figure always 
had the same meaning, in what might be considered a spiritual 
glossary ; but rather, I urge every reader of the Bible to judge of 
every word, not by itself, but by the whole context ; for it is the 
whole context that must determine the meaning. The Bible was 
written by different authors, at different and remote periods, and 
although they all speak one and the same language, it is a language 
modified by each writer, according to his particular turn of mind 
and style of thinking. Butler, in his excellent work, has shown 
an analogy between our Lord's creation of His physical works, and 
His creation of His spiritual word. If we wish to understand the 
Bible, and to be free from obscurities, we must be content with the 
diligent study, not of a part only of the Bible, but we must carefully 
peruse, consider, and become familiar with the whole and entire 
Bible, from the beginning to the end. By construing every passage 



RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 171 

and figure by the whole context, we shall soon be set free from the 
benighted or feeble and insufficient interpretations of commentators, 
and shall behold the whole word of God, written in such blazing 
characters of light, that darkness will be dispelled, and every page 
of the divine book shine as mid-day. 

The lion is sometimes a type of the true church,* and at other 
times is a type of blood, or of spiritual death. It is the whole 
context which must determine the meaning. So, the colour white, 
is sometimes a type of the leprosy of death ;t at other times, and 
most frequently, it is a type of the righteousness of the saints : by 
the contrast we must judge. If the colors red and black are men- 
tioned, to denote blood and darkness, and these are immediately 
followed by the color white, but without any repentance or fruits 
of righteousness, we can then have no doubt that the plague of 
darkness is, in due season, followed by the plague of death, and that, 
in such case, the white is the white of leprosy,J and not the white 
of holiness. I repeat, we must search the whole context, and form 
our judgment from every thing that is said there, and elsewhere, in 
the entire book of God. The true construction will be helped from 
all parts, and opposed or contradicted by none, and will exhibit 
enlarged views of divine government, impartial judgment, omnipo- 
tent power, and redeeming love, infinitely transcending the petty 
conceptions and narrow limits of the thoughts of man. 

The Lord, speaking of the wicked, says : *' But the word of the 
Lord was unto them^ precept upon precept, precept upon precept ; 
line upon line, line upon line ; here a little and there a little ; 
that they might go and fall backward, and be broken, and snared 
and taken." § And in the book of Matthew, He says, also, " there- 
fore I speak to them, in parables : because, they seeing, see not • 
and hearing, they hear not ; neither do they understand ; and in 
them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, II which saith, by hearing 
you shall hear, and not understand ; and seeing, ye shall see, 
and shall not perceive ; for this peoples heart is waxed gross, and 
their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes they have closed : 
lest at any time, they should see with their eyes, and hear with 
their ears, and should understand with their heart, and should 

* Prov. xxviii. 1; Ezek.i. 10; Rev. iv.7; Rev. v. 5. 
t Ler. xiii. 3; Num. xii. 10; 2 Kings v. 27. % Zech. vi. 3. § Isai. xxviii. 13. 

II Isai. vi. 9. 



172 RULES FOR INTERPRETATION. 

be converted, and I should heal them."* It is wonderful, but never- 
theless true, that the reason men do not come to God, is because 
they despise God, and do not want a happiness of the kind that 
God enjoys ; they actually prefer their sinful slavery to a holy free- 
dom. Those alone who hunger and thirst for righteousness 
will drink at the fountain of the word of divine Truth ; their affec- 
tions must recoil from the world, (viz : from the sins of the world,) 
and they must feel that sinful indulgences and appetites are husks, 
fit only for swine, before they will consent to turn from their 
brethren at the trough, and hasten back to their Father's house. 
Any man, therefore, may diligently read and hear the Scriptures, 
and do so for a long life, and yet die in ignorance and unbelief ; 
yea, and may draw the most unfounded and untrue doctrines and 
consolations from that which, rightly considered, is a denunciation 
of misery against his own state of death and hell : he may take 
death and hell to his bosom, and embrace them as if they were 
heaven and salvation. This has been done, and may be done. 
The present age exhibits an instance of this voluntary delusion, 
which has now continued for centuries. In vain will it be pre- 
tended, against the express authority of the word of God, that the 
men who have thus fallen, were earnest in the pursuit of truth ; 
but that it lay hid from their sight by its own inscrutable mystery 
and difficulty of access. For God's revelation is abundantly plain : 
*' the way-faring men, though fools, shall not err therein."t All 
those who have stumbled and fallen, were betrayed by the deceits 
and wilful wickedness of their own hearts : " they received not the 
love of the truth, that they might be saved."1: The Word of God 
everywhere plainly and abundantly asserts the truth ; but men reject 
it, in the spirit of a conceited and self-wise philosophy ; or they hate 
it, and will not come to it ; or they seize upon it, with a vain-glo- 
rious and carnal mind of ambition and love of approbation among 
their fellow men ; and they build churches and found societies to 
perpetuate their own name and honor. Cunningly, in the deep 
folds of a deceitful heart, do they hide their besetting sin ; but the 
Lord searches their secret intents, and they perish. 

But yet it is wisely ordained, in the providence of the Almighty, 
that even the men and sects, who will not hear and obey His true 
Gospel, shall be the instruments in His hands, for transmitting the 

* Matt. xiii. 13.15. f Isai. xxxv. 8. t 2 Thess. ii. 10. 



HOLINESS. 173 

i^criptur^s to others, and preparing the world for His coming. 
Thi&ioTd gathers all nations to Armageddon, or the mountain of 
Megiddo ; they come up and tread upon Jerusalem and the Scrip- 
tures, that the Lord may slay them all there, and convert them, in 
reality, into sincere friends. The Scriptures are therefore, by the 
miraculous power of God, drawn up and disposed in such a manner, 
that they best subserve His purpose of making them a centre of 
action for the universe. For^although the Lord, in the promulga- 
tion of His word, has acted, through the instrumentality of man, 
the Scriptures are, notwithstanding, the Lord's own creation, and 
He has ordered and inspired the minutest part thereof, in His 
sovereign will. The Lord has so created this miraculous book, that 
even bad and deceitful men, preserve and perpetuate the Bible, 
which records their own destruction; and thus the glad-tidings of 
the salvation of God are transmitted safely through long and suc- 
cessive ages of blood, and darkness, and death, until at last, a 
generation comes, who are prepared by the chastisements of the 
Lord upon their fathers: and thus eventually, every rational 
creature of Jehovah, shall be brought to see and acknowledge the 
glory and perfection of the Lord, in Christ Jesus, who is the God 
and Father, and the Saviour, and Sanctifier of all. 



CHAPTER IX. 



HOLINESS. 



Power and wisdom are excellent only, so far as they conduce to 
holiness. Power exercised in evil, is a curse ; and wisdom, if you 
could conceive of such wisdom, employed in devising schemes of 
mischief, is doubly hateful. 

God delivered His ten commandments to Moses, on mount Sinai, 
with thunderings and with lightnings, and with fearful sounds ; 
potrents expressive of the fate of those who violate these laws. For 
let no one suppose that a law of God can be infringed with impu- 
nity. As the laws of physical creation operate with undeviating 
accuracy, so do the laws of spirit ; and the ten commandments are 
the laws of motion, for the soul of man, to which we must be con- 



174 HOLINESS. 

formed : or else we are hurled from our centre, and driven into 
outer darkness. 

But no man as born of Adam, can keep these laws. For as born 
of Adam, we obey a supposed law of selfishness, and each individual, 
makes his single self the centre of action. So universal and 
unvarying is this depravity, that the great men of the world pride 
themselves in their knowledge of mankind, by exposing the secret 
acts and operations of this selfish principle, in the various modifi- 
cations which it assumes, in domestic love, the love of society, or 
the love of country ; and by discerning in what a man places his fan- 
cied self-interest, they are enabled to predict what his course will be 

To keep these laws we must be born again. Self-love must 
ex^el selfishness ; self-love, which regards our neighbour, as a co- 
member with ourselves, of the one body of Christ, our God. An 
individual, whose teeth devour his arms, or whose hands tear his 
limbs, is a lunatic ; and so every man, prince, general, and nation, 
who commit wilful injury to others, are deranged, and the love of 
self does not prevail in their hearts. 

Nature and history confirm this truth. What have vanity, pride, 
lust, ambition, revenge done in the world ; what good have they 
done, even to the parties, who, for a season, appeared to them- 
selves to be most successful ? Wicked men and oppressing nations, 
have, for a brief time, flourished in appearance ; but the consuming 
fire of the laws of nature, or the overwhelming flood of waters, has 
destroyed them from existence. Thus has it always been, thus 
always, will it be : and volcanoes and deluges have not more 
chanofed the face of the structure of the earth, than the crimes of 
men have rent and destroyed our own bosoms. 

It is a common saying, that a republic cannot exist without vir- 
tue. The fact is, that no nation, which has not virtue, can resist 
the spoiler. But as there are different degrees of national degen- 
eracy, so there are different degrees of strength or weakness in 
depraved nations; sooner or later, however, the earth opens under 
them, and they are swallowed up in destruction. 

The infancy of a bad nation, may be less marked by crimes, 
than its more mature age, when effeminacy shall have succeeded 
to courage and firmness. This does not prove that, at any time^ a 
bad nation is as strong as a virtuous nation ; but only that crimes 
proceed as widening streams, by successive and deeper courses, 



HOLINESS. 175 

until eventually they empty themselves into the troubled and tem- 
pestuous ocean of their own ruin. 

The author of Lacon,* has some very just observations on what 
are called the virtues of a semi-civilized state of society. As civili- 
zation advances, and before arts and luxury are introduced, the rich 
proprietor has no way to spend his large revenues, but by hospi- 
tality, and by keeping numerous retainers for war, or the chase. 
These supposed virtues, however much disguised, are still the 
effects of his mere selfishness. He expends his money in those 
channels, because he has no other means for obtaininof the advan- 
tages of society, and of distinction in the world. But as arts and 
science increase, and commerce and manufactures improve, a new 
state of things arises. Then the whole income of a wealthy man, 
however vast, may be employed upon himself ; and the same 
selfishness, which before made him hospitable, now shuts his hand. 
The conclusion of the author's remarks I shall quote in his own 
words. " The Croesus of civilization can now wear a whole forest 
in his pocket, in the shape of a watch ; and can carry the produce 
of a whole estate upon his little finger, in the shape of a ring ; he 
can gormandize a whole ox at a meal, metamorphosed into a turtle, 
and wash it down with a whole butt of October, condensed into a 
flagon of tokay ; and he can conclude these feats by selling the 
whole interests of a kingdom for a bribe, and by putting the costly 
price of his delinquency into a snuff box." Here we see that the 
infancy of a bad nation is of the same genus as the maturity of a 
bad nation ; only in the former^ vice is compelled to put on more 
of the appearance of generosity : while in the latter ^ it exhibits its 
true lineaments and native deformity. 

Any one, in reading the history of the rise and glory, the decline 
and fall of Rome, must be struck with the conviction, that the 
captivity of this haughty city, was the natural fruit of precisely the 
same vices, which, originally, by their early blossoms, adorned her 
advancing greatness. For the young flower of crime may bloom 
richly and fragrantly; but the matured fruit of the plant, in 
harvest, is death. The oppressing city, when she can no more 
oppress, is herself made to pass under the yoke. In vain does any 
man or nation, hope to prove an exception to this iron law. The 
Goths and Yandals inflicted upon Rome the injuries which Rome 

* Lacon, or Many Things in Few Words, by the Rey. C. C. Colton, page 287. 



176 HOLINESS. 

herself had inflicted upon the States of Italy, and upon Carthage ; 
the vile city went on to conquer, until her selfishness, by passing 
from poverty and hardship, into the enjoyment of wealth and the 
arts, was turned from social confidence into the direction of mere 
individual indulgence ; and then she fell, because there was no man 
to stand to the shoulder of his fellow man, in resistance of the com- 
mon enemy ; but each one distrusted his neighbor. 

It is the principle of union, which makes man powerful and 
victorious. This principle can exist in purity and entire vigor, only 
where the cement is love. '' How should one chase a thousand, and 
two put ten thousand to flight, except their Rock had sold them, 
and the Lord had shut them up?"* We behold millions of people 
servilely groaning under the rod of a single hand. Why is this ? 
Certainly not because one man can really enslave a nation, but 
because each man is enslaved by his own selfishness : their own 
sins have made the separation between them and liberty. The 
father cannot confide in his son, nor the son in his parent ; children 
of the same family are at variance ; and each one seeks only, as 
he imagines, to better his own condition, and to build up a house 
for himself, or to add an acre to his possessions, or to gratify a lust, 
or a passion. 

Only true love can produce a union, which is invincible ; but 
policy, and what the world calls heroism, can for a time, and within 
limits, produce a union of action for certain purposes, and then the 
efiects of union are beheld, against an opposition, which has less 
union. The barbarian invaders of Rome, were terrible, until 
Constantino turned against them a united front. Belisarius and 
Narses, by infusing union into their legions, again made Roman 
slaves victorious soldiers. And Heraclius, amid the most appalling 
dangers, surrounded on every side by peril and calamity, revived 
the ancient majesty of the Caesars, and smote his enemies in their 
most distant citadels. 

If such be the effect of a union founded on vice, what must be 
the magnificent and imperishable results of a harmony, cemented 
by love ; whose centre is God, whose sphere is the whole universe 
of man ! Such an age the world has never yet seen. Small 
beginnings have heretofore been made, but mankind relapsed into 
vice and selfishness. Even to the present day, so enlightened, so 

*Deut. xxxii.30. 



HOLINESS. 177 

extolled, the whole fabric of social life, not in one nation only, but 
in all nations, is built up upon a principle of aggression and 
hostility, at war with the whole constitution of the mind and heart 
of man, and totally subversive of the benevolent design of God, in 
our creation.* 

From all this, it is easy to perceive the absolute necessity of that 
righteousness, which proceeds from faith in God. Holiness, in 
other words, faith which works by love, is indispensable. The ten 
commandments, which our Lord delivered to Moses, on Mount 
Sinai, are not arbitrary, but are founded in the nature of things 5 
our constitution is formed with reference to them, and we must 
keep them, or be scattered abroad.! If we break them, we perish • 
if we do them, we are saved. All unions and confederacies, which 
are not founded on the fulfilment of these commandments, are as 
false as the sands of the sea, which the next wave dashes from their 
place ; " hut he that doeth the will of God, ahideth for ever, ^^ 
The strength of the disciples of Christ, is in the fact, that the blood 
of God has written these commandments on their hearts ; they 
bear them no longer in their hands, written upon stone, but in their 
hearts, written u^on fleshly tables, and in characters indestructible. 
Hence it is, that a sincere and holy brotherhood in Christ, cannot 
be shaken. Dangers appal them not, for they know in whom they 
trust : they do not fear death, because they fear, or rather reverence 
Him who has the power of life and death ; over all the arts and 
temptations of the adversary, they are victorious • they are more 
than conquerors; they are not overcome by lust, nor by revenge, 
nor by avarice, nor by ambition, and therefore Apollyon gains no 
power over them, by profiering the gratification of their passions, 

* On this subject, I recommend attention to the pamphlet of Robert Dale Owen, on 
Wealth and Misery, and to Brisbane's work on Fonrierism, with other pHblicati on s of this 
kind. They are worthy the study of every one, and he who permits his prejudice to 
prevent him from the perusal of them, will have occasion, deeply to regret the injury 
which he does himself. Read them, and judge. But do not imagine that he who is right 
in some things, is necessarily right in all. Test every point. 

f The fourth Commandment, enjoining the observance of the Sabbath, is equally as 
obligatory as the others ; we must not break one of the least of them. The Levitical 
observance of a seventh day, is abrogated ; but not such a keeping of it, by abstaining 
from work, as will enable us to devote a seventh day to religious and social exercises, 
having the object to improve us in the knowledge and love of God, and of each other. 
Upon examination, it will be found, that the law of the Sabbath, is also founded upon 
a law of our nature. We need such an institution, to prevent our earthly appetites 
from preponderating over the social feelings, and also, that we may know it is the 
Lord, who sanctifies us. Exod. xxxi. 13, 

23 



178 HOLINESS. 

as bribes to purchase their aid in the subjugation of their brethren. 
This is the result of their keeping the law. But a violation of the 
law, would be attended with consequences directly the reverse. A 
mere profession, without practice, avails not. He who breaks the 
law, suffers under the curse of the law ; be he Jew or Gentile, 
Christian or heathen, it is all one ; the sinner dies. 

How needful is it to have a right understanding of terms ! Yet 
the words in Scripture, are plain enough; but men's hearts 
willingly misapply them, and will not come to the truth ; they hate 
instruction. This is the sole secret of the immense perversions of 
the simple doctrine of faith taught in the Bible. The world does 
not see the truth, because the world will not see it ; they prefer dark- 
ness to light, and obstinately shut their eyes and close their ears. 

Paul says, " Abraham believed God, and it was counted unto 
him for righteousness. INow to him that workethy is the reward not 
reckoned of grace, but of debt. But to him that worketh not^ but 
believeth on him who justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted 
for righteousness."* From this, and the like passages in Scripture, 
a large portion of people, bearing the name of Christians, have 
derived the doctrine, that we are saved by the imputed righteousness 
of Christ ; in like manner, as I believe, the same persons, from 
other texts in the sacred book, assert that we are damned by the 
imputed sin of Adam ! Other classes of Christians, fall also into 
wrong opinions of the meaning of grace, and although they admit 
that the moral law is obligatory upon us, they imagine that grace 
necessarily means some miraculous power upon the heart, impel- 
ling us by an immediate energy of the Supreme Spirit, and that no 
act of ours can concur with, nor resist it.t 

I do not question that the Spirit of God may suggest thoughts 
and feelings, by an inward breathing upon us, or by inspiration. 
Who dare pretend to limit the operations of the Deity % Whatever 
we have is the Lord's. He created us from nothing, and freely 
bestowed upon us faculties to observe, see, compare, know, and 
distinguish. To all these faculties. He presents the truth or food 
fitted to each one individually, and invites us to feed and live, and 
warns us also against all counterfeit aliment. Without Him, we 
were nothing, and can do nothing ; if separated from Him, we are 

♦ Rom. iv. 3-5. 

t See TillotBon's Sermon, No. 106, on Gal. vi- 15, where this unscriptural notion is ably refuted. 



HOLINESS. 179 

as the branches of the vine cut off from the stem, left to wither 
without nourishment or root, whose end is to be burned. Not only- 
does the Lord present truth to us, but my belief is, that He also, by 
His divine agency upon our spirits, either directly or by second 
causes, inchnes our hearts and helps our infirmities ; He perceives 
and knows what it is right for Him to do in favour of each person 
at any time, and under any dispensation. And that which it is 
right for God to do, He does do, and there is no failure on His part.* 
Sufficient grace is actually extended to every being whatever, and 
each transgression which we commit, is a voluntary and sinful act 
on our part ; we are furnished with ability to do all the commands 
of God, *^ and this is the condemnation^ that light is come into the 
world, a7id men loved darkness rather than light, because their 
deeds were evil.^^t 

Grace means the free and unmerited love and abundant mercy of 
God bestowed upon sinners ; protecting, redeeming, sanctifying, and 
exalting us to a holy communion with Himself. The phrase, 
" abundant love and mercy, ^^ might, probably, (for I will not say for 
certain,) be used as convertible in all cases for the term ^^ grace,^^ 
We are saved by the abundant love and mercy of God ; they are 
His free gift: absolutely a gift, without deserving on our part. 
They may, or they may not, imply an irresistible impulse by an im- 
mediate divine agency upon our hearts ; for God may exercise His 
own sovereign will and judgment in His ow^n acts. The Lord, in 
His omniscience, sees what amount of supernatural aid to us, and 
what kind of providence from Him, will either incite us to a healthy 
and beneficial action of our powers, or destroy us by engendering 
presumption in our hearts, and that course of divine government, 
which is the very best for each individual, the Lord adopts in His 

* How it is that the Lord answers prayer, we may not at all times perceive ; yet He 
does answer prayer. 

I know that I have a spirit ; that this spirit is not ray body ; that it is the spirit which 
thinks, wills, and feels, and not the body. This I know, as firmly as I know any other 
truth. Yet my body dies, or the soul separates from it, and the eye of no mortal being 
can then detect either the existence, or any of the phenomena of my disimbodied spirit. 
It passes unperceived through matter, and cannot be confined. But, because you cannot 
perceive my disimbodied spirit, have you any right to deny its existence 1 By denying its 
existence, you require yourself to believe more mj/sfmes than you would, by affirming its 
existence ! 

So I may not see the spiritual help of God on the spirit, in all His providences, both 
before and after the conversion of sinners, yet I belive that God does act by His Spirit 
upon our spirits. 

t John iii. 19. 



180 HOLINESS. 

dealings to each one. His providence is a providence of optimism^ 
for all universally, and for each individually, and nothing v^hich He 
does can be mended ; it is already absolutely perfect. He who now 
resists conversion, is now, at this present instant, resisting the grace 
of God, who does not desire that we should continue in sin ; for 
" the grace of God, which bringeth salvation, hath appeared to 
all men,''^* and now, this day, is the Lord's day ; He is ready, and 
waits to save ; but we are unwilling, and actually prefer sinful 
slavery to deliverance and freedom. 

A consideration of the nature of our faculties will enable us, in 
some measure, to conceive the manner in w^hich Omnipotent Wisdom 
should act in our conversion and sanctification. For when we 
understand an instrument, or mental organ, we may also, in some 
degree, understand the motive of the maker in its construction, and 
the means by which he intends it should perform its functions. 

Causality traces the relations of cause and effect ; comparison, 
the relations of resemblance or disagreement ; benevolence delights 
in the relations of goodness and humanity, and justice gives to each 
one his due. Other persons have more abihty than myself to arrange 
the organs or powers of the mind, and describe their functions. I 
mention the above as instances, and do it for the purpose of calling 
attention to the fact, that the exercise of each faculty or sentiment, 
implies an object or suitable relation in regard to which it is 
employed. Conversion and salvation demand the action of all our 
powers. We must love God with our whole heart, soul, strength, 
and mind, and our neighbour as ourselves. Now, how are all our 
powers and affections to be put into exercise, but by presenting to 
them the right objects and relations 1 Causality, which acts in some 
other way than by discerning the relations of causality, is not 
causality. Comparison, which acts in another manner than by 
comparison, loses its character. Benevolence and justice cease to 
be benevolence and justice, if their operations are peformed in other 
departments than those which belong to benevolence and justice. 
Wherefore, it seems to me, that God, in His grace, or abundant 
love and mercy, brings sinners from transgression to repentance, 
conversion, and salvation, by presenting to all the powers of our 
mind, the objects and relations suited to their action, and we, in our 
own accountable free agency, choose or reject the life set before us. 

* Tit^s ii. 11. 



HOLINESS. 181 

If God should excite supreme love in us towards our heavenly 
Father, and towards our fellow men, by other faculties than the 
faculties of our heart, soul, strength, and mind, the sensations 
would not be an act of our present mental constitution, any more 
than a miraculous voice of praise, issuing from a stone or a tree, 
would be the act of the mineral or the plant. 

However any one or more of our faculties or sentiments, may be 
moved by a miracle, or by secondary causes, to a very high degree 
of relative excitability, and then the organ will most readily grasp 
and retain its proper object : figuratively speaking, it will hunger 
and thirst for its aliment, and seize it at once. But how ought this 
high excitement or agitation to be produced ] By a miracle 7 If 
so, God will display that miracle. Miracles He did perform in the 
infancy of the existence of the world ; but now, in a more mature 
age of mankind, we see that God acts by natural causes, viz : by 
His own uniform laws, conformed to our mental and social constitu- 
tion and condition. Therefore, it is my belief, that this rational and 
natural plan, as it is adopted by Infinite Wisdom, is infinitely more 
wise than any other. And I can see a good cause why the Lord 
has selected it. Because, as the design of His administration is to 
destroy carnal presumption, and to create the strongest possible love 
in our hearts. He has wisely made the instrumentality of our fellow 
men necessary to our perfection, and He requites each one of us 
according to our deeds. This is His perfect plan. Yet, although 
He uses second causes, the whole preparation and action are from 
the Lord. For it is God who overrules wars, and pestilences, and 
famines for our good. He has conferred on us the Sabbath, as a 
day peculiarly set apart for social worship, and has incited us to 
hold meetings and conventions for religious exhortation and improve- 
ment. He removes from us our idols of gold and silver, and breaks 
down our confederacies of aggrandizement. He smites the objects 
of our selfish affection with death, and continually removes every 
strong hold which exalts itself against His holy power. And by 
these, and innumerable modes which cannot be mentioned, in all 
His government and providences, God does actually, at this day, 
and will forever, excite our proper faculties to a healthy action, and 
cause every soul to hunger and thirst with eagerness for the bread 
which cometh down from heaven, and which alone can satisfy the 
craving appetite of our nature. 



182 HOLINESS. 

As one of the conclusions, from all that I have submitted to the 
reader, on the subject of this chapter, I deny that Christ's righteous- 
ness is imputed to us, vicariously, as our righteousness, or that 
Adam's sin is imputed to us, vicariously^ as our sin. That right- 
eousness, which we attain by our own faith in Christ, our God and 
Sanctifier, is our righteousness, and that sin which we commit, by 
our faith in ourselves, or in our own carnal strength, as man, is our 
sin. We die, by receiving or imbibing the spirit of the disobedience 
of Adam, and we arise from death, by receiving and obeying the 
spirit of life in Christ : '^ the righteousness of the righteous shall 
be upon him, and the loickedness of the wicked shall he upon him. 
But if the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath com- 
mitted, and keep all my, {the Lord's^) statutes, and do that which 
is lawful and right, he shall surely live — he shall not die. All his 
transgressions that he hath committed, they shall not he mentioned 
unto him : in his righteousness, that he hath done, he shall live."* 
On the contrary, when the righteous man turns from his faith, and 
commits iniquity, '' all his righteousness that he hath done shall 
NOT BE MENTIONED I iu his trcspass that he hath trespassed, and 
in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die.^^t We are 
judged, every one, according to our ways. 

How is it, then, that Christ is declared to be made ^^ sin for 1/5," 
^' that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him ?"t and 
why does Paul say, in a passage before quoted, that ^^ faith is 
counted for righteousness ?" 

Christ was born under the law ; both the moral and the ceremo- 
nial law. He was filled with love to man, and performed all the 
requirements of God, blamelessly and holily; for no guile nor 
imperfection was found in Him, in any degree. Yet the Jews, 
who prided themselves in their righteousness, put Him to death as 
a malefactor, and chose Barabbas in His stead. Thus did God 
submit His strength to the weakness of man, and die as sin or a 
sinner. And, why ? That hy this sacrifice of His own life, He 
MIGHT PUT AWAY SIN, aud Write His moral law of love upon our 
hearts. For by this sacrifice of Himself, the Lord convicts the 
world of sin, because they slew a just and holy God, who was at 
the very time engaged in so transcendant a work of love and sal- 
Fation, that the tongue of man cannot enough express its unspeak- 

* Ezek. xriii. 20-22. f Ibid. 24. t 2 Cor. y. 21. 



HOLINESS. 183 

able gioiy. Also, He exhibits His own righteousness ; because, 
although He was and is the eternal God, and the Lord of the whole 
earth, and although He mio^ht have smitten His murderers to atoms 
by His thunderbolts, or have crushed them from existence by His 
word, yet He dies as sin upon the cross, meek, patient, bleeding, 
humble ; not cursing His enemies, who mocked and tortured Him, 
but praying for them.* But, at the same time, He convicts or 
reproves the world of judgment^ and shows that He is just, when 
He condemns the world : because the prince of this world then was, 
and now is, Barabbas, the murderer and traitor. The world still 
worships Barabbas, in arms, the conqueror and desolator, horrid 
with the blood of countless millions of his murdered brethren ; 
Barabbas on the throne, a base usurper and robber of the rights of 
his countrymen ; Barabbas in the temple, who plunders the poor, 
and makes merchandize of the souls of men ; Barabbas in every 
walk and station of life, who violates the commandments of God, 
and delights in hate and rapine. Such a Barabbas is preferred before 
the Lamb of God : the meek and lowly Jesus, who gave Himself a 
victim for His people. Certainly, then, God is just when He con- 
demns the prince of this world ; and our Lord must overcome His 
accusers, who accuse or judge Him unjustly ; and He must be justi- 
fied in His sayings. He that comes to God, by faith in Christ, thus 
slain by and for us, sees, believes, and feels all these truths. All 
the judgments pronounced against the world, he then knows, are 
pronounced against himself^ as one of this world, a murderer of 
Christ. His heart is overcome by the infinite love, mercy, and 
humility of our great God and Saviour; instantly he hates and 
abandons his sins, and makes haste to bow himself before the Lord 
Jesus, and worships Him ; from that time forth, he is a new crea- 
ture^ and obeys a new principle of life and action, and is holy as 
God is holy ; for he conforms himself to the life of God, and lives 

* Gibbon, in a note, somewhere in his fifth volume of the Decline and Fall, says that he 
knows but of one religion in which the victim and the god are the same. I cannot now 
find the page, or I would quote it. I know not whether he intended it as a scofi", or other- 
wise; but to a sincere thinker, how much glory is there in the thought that Christ is both 
our God and our victim; the Lamb slain for us ! Only that God deserves to reign in ouy 
hearts, who would die for us. All other gods kill and devour their worshippers, and make 
victims of fAcm; but Christ makes Himself the victim (or His people, and is both their God 
and Saviour. How strong is this proof that the doctrine is really the Word of God ; for 
such a thought would never have entered an uninspired mind ! The same being the God 
and the victim ? The name of that victim is above all other names ! 



184 HOLINESS. 

and dies for his brethren. To such a child in Christ, God says, in 
Ezekiel, <' all his transgressions that he hath committed, they shall 
not be MENTIONED unto him: in his righteousness that he hath 
done, he shall live.'''' Not that God does actually consider our sins 
as His own sins ; nor His own righteousness as oiif righteousness ; 
but in His abundant love and mercy ^ He accepts our present repent- 
ance and faith, and freely, for His name's sake, grants us an 
amnesty, and " remission of sins that are past, through the for* 
bearance of God."* For now that we throw down our arms of 
rebellion, and believe and confide in Him, and do no more wilful 
sin, God can be ^^just, and the justifier of him which believeth in 
JesusP While we remain in sin, God cannot be just and pardon 
us ; but when we turn from all our sins, and keep the command- 
ments of God, and do that which is lawful and right, God can and 
does freely pardon us, for His own love's sake, and receives us as 
children into His family, and our transgressions, however numer- 
ous or flagrant they may have been, are never so much as men- 
tioned against us. Our faith is counted for righteousness. The 
LOVE of God is our paschal Lamb ; it is our " scape-goat,''^ which 
bears upon it all the iniquities of the repentant and reconciled 
people of God, to a land not inhabited, and we hear no more of 
them for ever.t 

It was we, and not God, who treated Christ as sin, and slew Him 
as a blasphemous malefactor ; we let loose upon Him all our wrath, 
and said, away with Him ; such a person is not fit to live — crucify 
Him! crucify Him! But it is not God who says so. God says: 
this is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. All these 
things did we do, and God, in His abundant love and mercy, 
kept silence. He turned His cheek to the smiter, and gave His 
body to the cross ; and the reason was, because He saw that this 
was the only way in which He could slay the enmity of our hearts,- 
and make us holy, as God is holy. 

The doctrine of vicariously imputed righteousness, or vicariously 
imputed sin, is replete with destruction, and finds no resting place 
in the Scriptures. The Lord denies it, in Ezekiel : " The soul that 
sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of ther 
father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son ; the 
righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wicked^ 

* Rom. iii. 25. f Lev. xvi. 21, 22. 



HOLINESS. 185 

ness of the wicked shall be upon him." In Matthew viii. 11, it 
is said of Jesus, that " lohen the even was come, they brought 
unto Him many that were possessed with devils : and He cast out 
the spirits with His word, and healed all that were sick^ that it 
m^ight he fulfilled which was spoken by Isaias the Prophet, 
saying Himself took our infirmities and bare our sicknessesJ^ 
This certainly means, as it appears to me, that Himself, (God 
Himself, our Christ,) took away or cured and removed our infirmities 
and sicknesses ; not that our infirmities and sicknesses were laid 
upon Him vicariously, but that He is the physician of our souls> 
and cures or purifies us, by faith in Him. Suppose it were true, as 
taught by persons who hold the doctrine of vicarious imputation, 
that each sin demands an eternal and infinite punishment, and that 
the sins of all the elect are vicariously imputed to Christ, and 
actually put upon Him ; what would be the consequence 1 This 
would follow : Christ would be in as many eternal and infinite 
hells, (never to escape from them,) as there are elect persons, and 
each of the elect persons would be transferred by the vicarious 
imputation of Christ's righteousness, to an eternal and infinite hea- 
ven ; not only perfect, in our enjoyment of it, relatively, but perfect 
absolutely. Now, we know that although Christ does give us all 
things, ALL His riches, and although His kingdom, or heaven is, 
in itself, absolutely perfect, yet these riches, or this heaven, are 
ours, to go up and take possession of, according to our faith. The 
attainment of no one individual, is, I presume, in all respects, pre- 
cisely the same as the attainment of another person : each one 
differs from the other in glory. We never can take entire possession 
of that, which is infinite and eternal, but we enter upon the land, 
and are continually going up further and higher, to take more and 
more possession, according to our faith, working by love. Beside, 
any sin, or series, or continuance of sins, which we may, at any 
period in our existence have committed, or which we shall, at any 
time hereafter commit, does and will forever, leave an eternal con- 
sequence of some kind or other upon our destiny. For he who 
wastes time in sin, never can make up for it by future diUgence ; 
since all portions of existence, have their allotted duty : our char- 
acter, strength, and capacity for spiritual enjoyment, at each instant 
of our eternal duration, are influenced by the effect of every thought, 
word, and action, then existing, or which shall have preceded it. 
24 



186 HOLINESS. 

The glory of a redeemed sinner, is always less, by reason of the 
time misemployed by him, than it would have been, had he not 
sinned ; and therefore, every impenitent sinner may be well assured, 
that the longer he delays his conversion, or his faith and diligent 
improvement, the less holy and happy forever and ever, will be his 
mansion in the house of his Father. 

Christ informs us that all the ten commandments, rest upon love ; 
love to God, and love to man. When the young man came to 
Him and asked, what good thing shall I do, that I may have eternal 
life,* Jesus told him to keep the commandments. The young man 
answered, " all these have I kept from my youth up, what lack 1 
yet." Jesus said, " If thou wilt be perfect, go and sell that thou hast, 
and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven ; and 
come and follow me." It is thought by some, that, by this last 
direction, Jesus took other ground than He had taken, when He 
told the person to keep the commandments. But I am very far 
from so considering it ; on the contrary, I have no doubt, that the 
last direction or command, was only a reiteration of the first. Why 
is it, that love is the fulfilling of the laws ] I answer, because love 
actually does fulfil, that is to say — it does actually do and "perform 
the laws : and he who has not love, does not and cannot keep any 
one of them. All these ten commandments are founded on the two 
principles ; love to God and love to man : or rather it is but one and 
the same principle. When, therefore, the youth told Christ that 
he had kept the laws, our Lord by His last direction to him, shows 
him that he had never kept any of them : and in this emphatic man- 
ner, reiterates the absolute necessity of keeping the commandments. 
Christ did not come to destroy, or remove any of these ten com- 
mandments, but to fulfil them. It is the Levitical law, which is 
abolished ; but the moral law, or the ten commandments, are now 
transcribed upon our hearts : and it is the dehght of the faithful to 
do them. As however, all have broken them, therefore God hath 
set forth the Lord Jesus Christ, *' to be a propitiation through faith 
in His blood, to declare His righteousness, for the remission of sins 
that are past, through the forbearance of God : but for the future 
time, if we know Christ aright, we do not break the laws, hut we 
observe and do them. For how can those who are dead to enmity, 
(or sin,) continue any longer in enmity 1 Christ says, " Not every 

* Matt. xix. 16-21. 



HOLINESS. 187 

one that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of 
heaven ; but he that doeth the will of my Father, which is in 
heaven. Many will say unto me in that day, — Lord, Lord, have 
we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name have cast out 
devils, and in thy name done many wonderful works ? And then 
will I profess unto them 1 7iever kneio you: depart from me, ye 

THAT WORK INIQUITY."* 

That man deceives himself therefore, who, with a profession of 
Christ, remains in sin ; or whose temper remains carnal, peevish, 
passionate, unamiable, and the opposite of meekness, patience, long- 
suffering, mercy, humility, and benevolence. We must put on 
Christ, and the works of Christ ; and beholding the image of God 
in His face, we must be transformed into the same likeness. Are 
not the chastisements of the Lord, poured out on the earth for 
their sins ; and if we do the acts of the children of disobedience, 
how shall we escape the same, or a worse condemnation. 

Not that I believe, that at any time, we are judged in the sight 
of the Lord, by our outward acts. For the Lord searches the heart. 
Out of the heart are the issues of life ; and works are nothing but 
living faith. We may have the right frame of mind, and yet never 
have the opportunity to do the outward work, corresponding to it. 
It is our faith, which saves us. You cannot make a stream, issuing 
from a corrupt fountain pure, by cleansing the outward part of the 
stream ; you must make pure the fountain. 

Neither have I any opinion, that the mind of a righteous person, 
will be always in the same state or frame oi feeling. Our minds 
are constituted with many different powers of sentiment ; hope, 
cautiousness, benevolence, destructiveness, and many others. When 
the faculty of hope predominates, the mind will be in one state of 
conscious feeling ; when cautiousness, and a review of our conduct, 
and a careful examination of it, with God's law, predominates, 
another kind of feeling may agitate us ; when we are earnest in 
the defence of right, and in the destruction, (not of a sinner, but of 
his or of our sins,) we may then experience other sensations, which 
will be suited to the work in which we are engaged : for each power 
or employment of the mind, has its proper and peculiar energy. Let 
us DO right, and the right feeling will come. It may not unfre- 
quently happen, that when we think ourselves in a falling state, 

• Matt. yii. 21-23. 



188 



HOLINESS. 



we are actually making greater advancement in holiness, than when 
hope paints all things brilliantly and joyfully, and supports us with 
a strong assurance. 

But it is necessary for me to state more fully the nature of our 
obligation, in regard to the ten commandments, or I may be miscon- 
ceived. I do not mean that in Christ, we are under the covenant 
of works, either in respect to the ceremonial, Levitical law, or the 
the moral law, for Christ has set us free from both these laws : and 
how this is, in consistency with what I have before said, I will 
endeavor briefly to explain. 

The ceremonial or Levitical law, " which stood only in meats 
and drinks and divers washings, and carnal ordinances imposed on 
them until the time of reformation,"* never could " make him that 
did the service perfect, as pertaining to the conscience." Neither 
could the moral law, produce a reform by itself For if you speak 
to a murderer and say " thou shalt not kill ;" or if you speak to the 
worshipper of murderers, and say, " thou shall not how down 
thyself to them, nor serve them ;" these commandments addressed 
to persons who love the sin and hate the commandment, will not 
produce life in a dead conscience. On the contrary, men will 
rather hate you the more, for attempting to control or reprove their 
desires. Yet, if you have a real and ardent love for the people, 
who have abandoned themselves to such evil practices, and if you 
earnestly intend to devote your life for the reformation of them, you 
would be very right in setting before them such commandments, 
and foretelling the miseries which should befal them, if they violated 
your instructions. But you must do something more even than all 
that. You must exhibit the beauty and excellency of your laws, 
not only by your precepts, but in your own practice and life : in 
short, you must write the laws, not on tables of stone, but on the 
very hearts of the people, (on their faculties, desires, affections, and 
passions,) and then they will form a part, as it were, of themselves, 
and you need not after that, enjoin the necessity of them ; for they 
will be their life. 

Thus it was with the moral law. The ten commandments are 
not addressed to the righteous, but to idolaters, or the ungodly ; to 
the lawless and disobedient ; to the unholy and profane ; to mur- 
derers of fathers, and murderers of mothers, and man-slayers ; to 

* Heb. ix. 10. 



HOLINESS. 189 

adulterers and the defiled ; to liars and perjured persons ; and if 
there be any other thing contrary to sound doctrine."* The law 
serves as a tree or outward sign, by which we may have knowledge 
whether we do good by keeping the law, or do evil by breaking the 
law; but the law itself does not touch the heart. The life or 
spirit of the law, which is the part of it which is intended to be 
immortal, is love ; for this one brief word, comprehends all the 
law and the prophets. This life of it, came by Christ. Not that 
before the advent of our Saviour in the body, the law of love, and 
of free justification by faith without works, was not in the world : 
for it is, and always has been, declared by all the works of God, in 
His creation and government. Adam, Abraham, David and all the 
righteous, now and forever, were, are, and ever will be saved by 
this law, and by no other. For until the law, (to Moses,) sin was 
in the world ; but sin is not imputed when there is no laio : yet we 
know that it was imputed, and therefore, also, we may know, that 
the law, viz : the law written in the creation of God, the law of 
faith and love, was the law, by which men were, and always have 
been justified. Adam had indeed received a positive command- 
ment, not to eat of the tree ;t but from Adam to Moses, death still 
reigned, even over them who had not sinned against such a positive 
law : and this proves that the law of nature is sufficiently plain, to 
justify God in imputing sin. But although the law always was in 
the world, yet it was darkly and feebly in the world, compared 
with the glorious and ever blessed revelation in Christ Jesus : and 
hence, under the Christian dispensation, a child in Christ, has, meta- 
phorically speaking, the strength of a man a hundred years old, in 
ancient times.t And if this be the advantage of our present 
dispensation, what will be the judgment or sentence of the aged 
man, who now goes down to his grave, a hundred years old, a 

SINNER ! 

From what is said, it is manifest, that under this exceeding great 
light in Jesus, the sincere children of God, are no longer under 
commandments, as commandments addressed to carnal minded and 
ungodly men. They are children of the promised love, and not 
servants in the bondage of former enmity. The commandments 
were designed to bring us to love, and when the commandments 

♦ 1 Tim. ix. 10. t Tillotson's Sermon; No. 101 j on Micah. vi. 6, 7, 8. Vol. 5. p. 287. 

t Isaiah \xi. 20. 



190 HOLINESS. 

shall have accomplished this end, then as children, we are in the 
New Jerusalem, and are no longer under the law. Christians do, 
indeed, as I have already at large stated, keep all the command- 
ments of God, with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength ; 
for these laws are written on their hearts, and it is their meat and 
drink to do them. But still, the law under which they are placed, 
is the law of love, or the life and immortality of the law, and not 
the carnal commandment. Christ has delivered them from the 
body of that death, and they now walk in spirit with the Lord, and 
rejoice to serve Him in newness of mind : for love is now the life 
of their souls, and circulates in every impulse and fibre. 

This holy dispensation, we will see to be strictly in accordance 
with the law of nature, and there is nothing mysterious in it, any 
more than we shall find in every correct family circle. What 
parent of a family, perceiving his children to be united by the most 
tender chords of affection, would ever think of calling them together 
and saying, John, thou shalt not kill Peter ; Peter, thou shalt not 
rob Paul ; James, thou shalt not bear false witness against thy 
brethren ! These laws are all addressed to enmity, not to love. 
You might as well say to John, (who would gladly sacrifice his life 
for Peter,) John, thou shalt not kill thyself. And so of the others. 

If, in truth, that family had ever been disobedient, rebellious, and 
the slaves of sin and passion, hating and destroying each other, and 
you had found it necessary to put them under such commandments, 
preparatory to your great work of making the law of love honorable, 
holy and beautiful ; and you had at length brought them to behold 
yourself and their brethren as parts of themselves, all co-members 
of one unit^ you might then, with propriety, address them as fol- 
lows : heretofore, you did, indeed, worship the lusts and crimes of 
your idolatrous hearts, and you did kill, steal, and bear false 
witness, but now I need not mention these things as unbecoming 
and unlawful, for you know it of yourselves ; how can you, who 
are dead to sin, live any longer therein ! 

And thus it is with the family of God. By faith in Christ, we 
are the children of our heavenly Father. His government is 
parental. We all know what that is. His banner over us, is love. 

INor could any finite being, however high and splendidly exalted 
his endowments and attainments might be, stand before God, under 
a covenant of works. Only God has or can have hfe in Himself; 



HOLINESS. 191 

and when our pride, or the inward adversary whispers to us, that 
we are as gods knowing good and evil, of ourselves^ the instant that 
we obey this suggestion of satan, we perish. The carnal heart, as 
born of Adam, always has said, and does and will say, " ye shall 
be as gods, knowing good and evil :" and in order to kill this great 
serpent, which deceives the world, the Lord set before us His abso- 
lutely perfect law, which he who does has life in himself. We 
cannot live by that law. We die. But Christ came, and He did 
live by it : and all we live, not by the law, which is absolute and 
perfect, but by the free grace or abundant love and mercy of God, 
who imputes faith for righteousness. 

The apostle John, informs us that " all unrighteousness is sin ; 
and there is a sin not unto death."* I believe that John here means 
nothing more than what our Lord Himself says in Numbers xv. 22- 
31, that there are two kinds of sin : sins of ignorance and sins of 
^presumption. Sins of ignorance are not sins unto death : " but 
the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, whether he be born 
in the land, or a stranger, the same reproacheth the Lord, and that 
soul shall he cut off from among His peopUr^ Sins of ignorance, 
however, although not unto deaths are, in an absolute sense, sins ; 
and when they come to our knowledge, they must be put away, and 
we must bring forth, the proper fruits of repentance.! Continually 
the disciples of Christ grow in knowledge and in grace and strength, 
as the revelation of the spirit of Christ, increases in them ; and from 
this view it is manifest, that at each instant of our lives, we are 
undergoing spiritual changes and renewals, analogous to those 
which our physical body experiences, by the operation of its healthy 
aliment, the circulation of our fluids, the secretion and excretion of 
rejected parts, and the deposit of new bone, muscle, and nerve. No 
created intelligence can say, that he is now already perfect ; but 
each one who diligently employs all his talents in the cause of his 
heavenly Father, is perfect in a relative sense ; and this perfection, 
each faithful brother of Christ, our God and Father, eagerly studies 
to attain. 

It is needful to encourage timid souls, as well as to restrain the 
daring. I will not, therefore, be prevented from consoling and 
comforting the contrite and humble backslider, by the fear that I 
may give boldness to the presumptuous. Christ says to His disci- 

* 1 John V. 17. t Num. xv. 30. % Lev. iv. 13, 14 ; John i. 9. 



192 



HOLINESS. 



pies, " take heed to yourselves ; if thy brother trespass against thee, 
rebuke him, and if he repent, forgive him, and if he trespass against 
thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day, turn again to 
thee, saying I repent, thou shalt forgive him."* Also when Peter 
said to Jesus, " Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and 
I forgive him, till seven times ? Jesus saith unto him, I say not 
unto thee, until seven times, but until seventy times seven. "t Our 
Lord will not be exceeded by any of His disciples in holiness ; and 
He forgives us, as He requires that we should forgive others : the 
finite numbers mentioned by Him, may be only expressions for 
infinity. His mercy is without end. The poor, weak, and tremb- 
ling soul, who approaches Him, is sure to be received. He will not 
break the bruised reed, nor quench the smoking flax. 

But wo to him who sins 'presumptuously ! How can any one 
be saved in that state of mind ? He has despised the mercy and 
long suffering of God, and hardened himself in iniquity, by the 
contemplation of goodness. His presumption must be consumed, 
it must be utterly destroyed. For what other sacrifice for sin 
remains, but that which he has rejected? All other sacrifices 
are now done away, and he seeks in vain for another. While 
therefore, he continues in the rejection of the Lamb of God, he 'shuts 
himself up in death and hell, and can expect nothing but a fearful 
looking for of judgment, and fiery indignation, which shall destroy 
all his thoughts and purposes. The sooner, therefore, that he re- 
turns to Christ, and submits himself to the cleansing and saving 
holiness of his Redeemer, the better for him : and Christ entreats 
him to return and hear His word, and fear, and do no more pre- 
sumptuously. 

The sins of presumption, viz : wilful sins against knowledge, are, 
in my apprehension, the sins which our Saviour denominates " the 
blasphemy against the Holy Ghost."J '^ And whosoever speaketh 
a word, (ignorantly,) against the Son of Man, it shall be forgiven 
him ; but whosoever speaketh against the Holy Ghost, (viz : wil- 
fully against knoivledge,) it shall not be forgiven him, neither in 
this world, (that is, neither under the Mosaic dispensation.) neither 
in the world to come," (viz : the Christian dispensation.) 

This sin of presumption may consist not only in open, professed, 
blasphemy, as when Christ is absolutely rejected, but also in a pro- 
fessed adoration and worship of Him, as when a people, called by 

* Luke xvii. 3, 4. t Matt, xviii. 2L, 22. t Matt. xii. 31. 



HOLINESS. 193 

His name, appear before Him with false, hypocritical vows, with 
multitudes of vain, heartless services, and with the wormwood of 
evil works, instead of pure and sincere judgment. A people of that 
kind have blasphemy written upon their foreheads, even while they 
spread forth their hands in prayer, and lay hold of the altar : for 
their prayers are a pollution, and their cup is filled with blood and 
abominations. When men approach God in that spirit. He hides 
His face from them; when they call, He will not answer, and 
when they seek Him, they shall not find Him : '' for that they 
hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord."* They 
seek to die to siuj and to live to Christ, not in Christ's appointed 
way, but through their own wilful, unauthorized devices: they 
stumble at the stumbling-stone — the cross of God. For this reason 
Esau found no place of repentance, though he sought it carefully, 
with tears of passion and worldly sorrow ; for the love of God was 
not in his heart, and he had no desire for that righteousness which 
comes by faith. The repentance of such persons is a repentance 
to be repented of, and cannot renew them. How, then, is it possi- 
ble for a people in that condition of mind, to be saved ? There is 
no salvation for them, but that very salvation which they despise. 
Their presumption, therefore, must first be utterly burned and con- 
sumed ; they must be given up and abandoned to their own lusts ; 
and then, when all their idols, their ambition, their vain-glory, their 
sensuality, their avarice, and hate, are turned to ashes, by the fire of 
the wrath of God, who requites them according to their deeds, see- 
ing no hope before them, but crushed, bruised, and humbled, out of 
the midst of that deep pit of darkness and death, and unquenchable 
hell into which they are cast, they cry aloud to God for His real 
salvation, and His own arm snatches them from the abyss. 

Christ, and only Christ, has the keys of death and hell, and He 
will not spare, but will utterly destroy and make an end of all 
death and hell. All His curses against the unbelieving, are great 
links in the clear-shining, golden chain of His universal salvation ^ 
for He will save the very last, lost soul. 

But this unwelcome and hated doctrine of universal salvation, 
unwelcome to, and hated by every carnal heart, which desires an 
eternal hell, not for itself but for others^ I shall consider in my 
next chapter. 

* Prov. i. 24-33; Isai. i. 10-20. 

25 



194 



CHAPTER X. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 



The salvation of any soul is of unspeakable importance : How 
much more, therefore, should we be impressed with joy in the cer- 
tainty of the salvation of all. 

Yet, strange as it may seem, the doctrine of the salvation of all 
men, is not pleasing to the human mind. We, each one, desire our 
own salvation, and in the pride and self-esteem of our hearts, we 
think ourselves secure of a very favorable standing before the Lord. 
Our sins we extenuate, or soon forget them altogether. Such acts 
as we do, which are less evil in outward appearance than others 
we look upon with a satisfied eye, and we magnify all our virtues 
a thousand fold. Even persons who are severe in the judgment of 
themselves, are not willing that others should think and speak of 
them in the hght in which they denounce their own offences, when 
they make a professed confession before God. Bad as they must 
really know themselves to be, they still hope that the mercy of our 
heavenly Father will both pardon and cleanse them. Yet this grace, 
which they so much need themselves, they are unwilling should 
be extended to others — more especially to others who remain in sin^ 
after they themselves have made some reform in their profession or 
lives. What, say they, shall we, who have borne the burden and 
heat of the day, fare no better than these tardy workmen ? Had we 
known that a later repentance would have been accepted, we, also, 
would have remained in the delights and pleasures of the vices and 
crimes which reluctantly we have forsaken, and the remembrance 
and associations of which are yet grateful to us ! Holiness has no 
charms to such persons, and they do not see that every thought 
and action of our daily existence, execute their own judgment and 
effect upon our spirits, and that the wages of sin is always death, 
and the wages of holiness is eternal life with God. 

This disinclination to the doctrine of universal salvation, pro- 
ceeds from the carnal hate and depravity of the unrenewed mind. 
It is nothing more than one form of the unsparing malignity with 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 195 

which, in all ages and climes, man has made war upon his brother 
man. What is it which incites bloodshed and conquests ; which 
depopulates provinces, and overv/helms nations and empires in 
horrid and desolating despotism ; which rejoices in the tears and 
groans of the helpless and bereaved ; which enjoys a fiendish de- 
light in witnessing or anticipating the tortures of the stake and fire, 
inflicted, in lingering and consuming torments, upon others ; what 
is it, I ask, which is the author of all these demon works in the 
heart of man, but that same principle of unappeasable wrath upon 
which rests our repugnancy to the gospel doctrine, that every child 
of Adam shall finally be redeemed, and be made happy in Christ ? 

If we search through history, we shall find every where, evidences 
of this same principle of exclusion, operating in all the concerns of 
men. One nation arrogates to itself the name of celestial^ or some 
other title of eminence, and considers all other people as outcasts 
or barbarians. The monarch claims his exclusive prerogatives, and 
will not acknowledge that other members of the human race, are 
formed of the same flesh and blood with himself. One class or caste 
of society usurps privileges over another, and then pretends that 
they are founded in nature. The Jews hated the Gentiles, and 
gnashed with their teeth, at the bare thought, that salvation might 
be preached to any but the descendants of Abraham. And so, from 
the earliest record of known time to the present day, and from one end 
of the earth to the other, in every nation, in every state of society, 
in every condition of domestic life, in every thought of unrenewed 
man, you will find this same unsparing, cruel, and fierce spirit of 
hate and exclusion ; modified, indeed, by many circumstances, and 
by the medium through which it passes, but still always bearing the 
poisonous fruit of proscription and anathema. 

Among religious exclusionists, the doctrine of the divine reproba- 
tion of certain men, and the unending duration of hell, is covered, 
as we might suppose, by very deceitful representations : for it would 
not do for Christian disciples, to avow the undisguised deformity of 
the principle which actuates them. I intend in the present chapter, 
to remove those disguises, and to exhibit the doctrine in its real 
character ; for it is supported neither by humanity, by reason, nor 
by Scripture ; but is directly opposed by all three. Indeed, how can 
any reflecting mind long retain the opinion, that a limitation of 



196 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

salvation is consistent with the gospel of the blood of God, shed 
upon the cross, for the redemption of the world 1 

Suppose a person should persuade himself, that all the entire 
universe of creation, will be eternaUy damned, but himself ! Here 
is limitation of saving grace ; but would such exclusiveness evince 
the person's just conception either of himself or of the Deity'? 
Imagine that the individual enlarges the strings of his heart, and 
believes that some ten or a hundred of his brethren will also share 
in salvation : how infinitely far is he yet, from the measure of the 
fulness of our Lord's redeeming love and mercy? But, now let 
him think, that the whole universe of intelligent beings will be 
saved, except one only — one miserable, solitary outcast, doomed 
forever to the burning heat and flames of an unquenchable fire ; 
with his eyes writhing under torture, and his heart festered with 
blasphemy ! Would not the sight of that unransomed lost one, leave 
a void in heaven ] Is redeeming grace exhausted, that it cannot 
save all 1 And who is this fearful, wretched being 1 Is it the out- 
cast spirit of your father or mother, or brother or sister, or child : 
one whom you loved dearly in life 1 Nay, is it you, your self 1; 
Think of this ! But in my opinion, it is impossible for any person, 
of tender and sensitive feelings, to realize the horrors of such a 
thought, without being driven to the verge of insanity. And yet 
millions of men, women, and children, who profess a love for the 
glory of Godj are zealous in asserting the existence of an unending 
hell, and gladly picture to themselves a day, when all the affec- 
tionate relations of life shall be severed, and their nearest compan- 
ions, friends and benefactors, shall be bound in eternal chains of 
darkness, and unmitigated anguish, forever and forever. 

This doctrine of an unending hell, can never change the heart, 
nor reform the actions of the world. For centuries after centuries 
it has been preached and believed, and the only effect of it has been, 
to sink men deeper into iniquity, to harden conscience, to render its 
advocates more Pharisaical, obdurate, hypocritical, and cruel, and 
to fill the land with oppression, crime, and death. Constantine, 
Justinian, and Theodora, with other most pious and Christian impe- 
rial defenders of the faith, believed, no doubt, in this doctrine of an 
endless hell, and they lived and died in sin. The Athanasians and 
the Arians beheved and rejoiced in it ; for they dehghted in people- 
ing hell with their enemies. The Crusaders held this same doctrine. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 197 

and they went down to hell believing it. The blood-thirsty mon- 
sters, who committed the massacre of St. Bartholomew, experienced, 
we may suppose, a tenfold pleasure, in reflecting that their victims 
were doomed to everlasting flames. This doctrine, also, has armed 
inquisitors and persecutors, with keener weapons of torture ; and 
instilled more venom and hateful malice into their hearts, than 
could have been engendered, by any other faith, in a bosom profess- 
ing Christ. Christian nations, holding this belief, have, without 
remorse, carried on wars of ambition and rapine. A Christian clergy, 
who look upon this doctrine as a chief foundation stone in their 
creeds, are not deterred by it from extortion, and the plunder of the 
poor. And under this same profession of faith, in all communities, 
miscalled Christian, a social system has grown up, and is yet 
continued, at war with every principle of justice and benevolence ; 
and whose inevitable tendency, if not counteracted by the preaching 
of the true gospel of our Lord, would most undoubtedly perpet- 
uate the hell, which it has so largely contributed to make, and 
would render this present, actual, and fearful hell, at once eternal in 
duration, and infinite, and universal in dominion.* 

But I may then be asked, do you pretend that God makes no dis- 
tinction in the next worlds between the righteous and the wicked, 
or that the impenitent believer can enter into heaven ? Is not Tophet 
prepared of old for the unrighteous, whose '^ worm shall not die, 
neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring 
unto all flesh T Does not Christ Himself say, '' Depart from me, 
ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his 
angels ]" And is it not right that the wicked should be consumed ] 
We are here in a probationary state, and if transgressors will not 

* It is said of some comparative anatomists, that their skill is so accurate, if you show 
them a single tooth of an animal, 'they are able to restore the whole body. 

So I would say, that if you should show to any one accurately skilled in spiritual 
anatomy, the great dragon tooth of eternal hell, taught by the present churches, he ought 
to have no difficulty in restoring the huge and deformed limbs of the Saurian beast, to 
which it belongs. 

The doctrine, he would know, must have grown up in a church, ignorant of God, and 
averse to righteousness ; prone to the belief of mysteries ', contentious for words i of 
fierce, Pharisaical heart, and ravenous, revengeful, and unsparing temper. And ag 
absurdities beget their opposites, he would perceive, that this doctrine of an unending 
hell, taught by some of the members of Anti-Christ, would also produce infidelity and 
blasphemy of entirely contrary kinds, in other of the many heads of the monster beast. 

Thus spiritual anatomy might picture before us, the discordant tongues and deformed 
limbs of the fierce Leviathan, whose unclean and terrible body, now overspreads Chris- 
tendom. 



198 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

turn and accept the offer of salvation tendered to them, in what 
other way can they be saved ] 

I am very far from holding or admitting anything hke the doctrine, 
that either in the next Avorld, or in this, the Lord makes no dis- 
tinction between the faithful and the unbeheving. On the contrary, 
now and forever, in this world, and in the next, eter7ially, the 
wicked are in death and hell, and the righteous in heaven. Between 
the spiritual Egypt and Israel, there is an everlasting gulf fixed, an 
impenetrable gulf of darkness and death, so that the two people, in 
spirit, cannot come near each other, and God always is seen, as a 
light, by His children, but as a cloud and as a terror and darkness 
by those who hate Him. The hell of the wicked is as eternal as 
themselves. Always the workers of iniqidty are in hell ; their 
faith and works, with the consequences thereof, are hell. " But if 
the wicked will turn from all his sins that he hath committed, and 
keep my, (the Lord's,) statutes, and do that which is lawful and 
right, he shall surely live ; he ,shall not die : all his transgressions 
that he hath committed, they shall not be mentioned unto him ; in 
his righteousness that he hath done he shall live."* The kingdom 
of heaven is set up upon earth ; wherever believers are : it is within 
you.t Also the kingdom of hell is set up upon earth, wherever the 
unbelieving are : the kingdom of Satan is within you ; the heart 
of him who has not faith in God is a bottomless pit , and there arise 
from it smoke and scorpions, which darken the air. This death and 
hell now reign in the world, as is too fatally written upon eveiy 
page of its history. No impenitent unbeliever, and no hypocritical 
professed believer, who says, " Lord, Lord .'" but does not do the 
commandments of God, can escape from this hell. All the workers 
of iniquity are, and must eternally be in it. But, when you 
sincerely come to God, by faith, then you die to death and hell, or to 
yourselves, and you are a new creature in Christ ; you live to 
God, and instantly, by that fact, you are in heaven. 

Hell^ therefore, is absolutely and literally eternal to the wicked.' 
But the wicked are not eternally wicked. For to destroy wicked^ 
ness was the very object of the coming of Christ. And He will not 
leave His work undone. When the wicked come to Him, by real 
faith, then their wickedness is at an end, and a new life begins. 

* Ezek. xviii. 21, 22. f Luke xvii. 21. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 199 

The wicked are dead spiritually. But even in this death, by 
additional wickedness, they still fall, or die more and more^ by 
passing into deeper mansions in hell. They are said also to be in 
the grave. But by faith they arise from death or the grave. And 
this is the meaning of the resurrection in Christ. Martha had the 
erroneous opinion of the resurrection taught by the traditions of the 
Jews ; but Jesus puts her right on the subject. He says, " I am the 
resurrection and the life ; he that believeth on me, though he were 
dead, yet shall he live : and whosoever liveth, and believeth in me^ 
shall never die."* Paul speaks of this resurrection.! He refers, I 
think, to the two bodies of Christ ; the firsts His natural or terres- 
trial body, descended from Adam through Mary ; and the second. 
His spiritual or celestial body, viz : the souls of believers. Paul 
speaks of them under a figure. The body was sown a natural or 
fleshly body under the Mosaic law, but raised a spiritual body, in 
incorruption, viz : as the souls of believers, born under the promise, 
and purged from sin. I might enlarge more on this construction, 
but I have alluded to it in *' A Voice to the Jews," page 293- 
Whether or not, however, I am right in this supposition of the 
meaning of Paul, it is certain that the resurrection is the resurrec- 
tion of a spiritual body, and that all who are alive, by faith in 
Christ, ARE arisen from the dead. In unbelief we are dead, and 
by faith we are arisen. " Death and helV are presenth^xQ in this 
world, and the ^^ resurrection^'* is also present.t 

These truths, viz : a present death and hell, and a present resur- 
rection, are of immense importance to be known and felt ; because 

* John xi. 25, 26. 1 1 Cor. xv. 44. 

X Paul says, " it is sown a natural body ; it is raised a spiritual body." A spirtual 
body is not a naaterial body. Christ's natural body was not a type of our natural bodies, 
but a type of our souls. Christ's natural body arose, and so will His spiritual body, riz ; 
our souls. 

A spiritual body, or substance, is a body having either one, or two, or all three of these 
attributes, viz : feelings volition, reason. Some spirits have feeling, and either no voli- 
tion at all, or very little of it. Other spirits have feeling and volition, and either no reasoD! 
at all, or very little of it. And other spirits, (in which class man is comprehended,) have 
feeling, volition, and reason. Although /ecZmg- may exist without volition or reason, yet 
volition includes feeling, and reason includes volition and feeling. Why, therefore, as oux' 
souls have reason, volition, and feeling, should they be clothed again with anotheir 
spiritual body^ having either one, or two, or all three of the same qualities % Should we 
not then have two reasons, or two wills, or two consciousnesses, perfectly distinct as 
unities from each other 1 

As, therefore, the body which arises is a spiritual body, does it not mean the souls of 
believers, who are figuratively the spiritual or celestial body of Christ, or the temple of 
God, represented under the type of His fleshly body, which He raised from the dead 1 



200 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

persons, who put off and defer their resurrection to a distant day, 
are resisting the grace of God. Now is the accepted time ; " to-day, 
if you will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." For ages 
the earth has been deluged with human blood ; consumed with the 
moral fires of crime and hate ; a prey to wild beasts, the lion, the 
bear, and the leopard ; and a spoil and a possession to Barabbas and 
Anti-Christ, in state and church : and yet men will not now arise 
from the dead ; but they talk about a future resurrection, in the 
next worlds when their dead fleshly bodies shall be revived, and 
confer upon them some fancied power, which they do not now 
possess ! 

The fact, that the resurrection spoken of and promised in the 
Bible, by faith in Christ, is a spiritual resurrection, made sure by the 
oath of God, to all who are in death and hell, incontestably estab- 
lishes the resurrection in righteousness of every created, rational 
soul, and the utter annihilation of death and hell. I shall, there- 
fore, consider this subject more at large, and view it in the different 
shapes in which objections might be offered, either from miscon- 
ceived notions of the nature and action of spirit, or the supposed 
loss of its powers at physical death ; or from any other cause which 
may occur to me. And I earnestly crave the reader's candid and 
most serious attention. 

To me it seems that the opinion, which is almost universal, that 
our dead bodies shall be revived from the dust of the grave, proceeds 
from a virtual disbelief in the existence of spirit. The persons who 
entertain it, must imagine that a spirit has, and can have no sepa- 
rate and distinct existence, that is to say, that it is not a substance^ 
and cannot live nor act, except in combination with matter, and 
thus they appear to render it only a quality of matter. They may 
not plainly announce this absurdity; but their assumptions and 
arguments lead to it. For they speak of the bodily resurrection in 
such a way as to evince their opiniori, that a physical re-union with 
matter is necessary for the exercise of our mental powers and affec- 
tions. If you take from them a carnal resurrection, they think you 
take from them life. 

What kind of a body is a spiritual body ? I know not. I do not 
even know the essence of a physical body ; although I know some 
few of its properties or phenomena. I see, from the properties of 
bodies around me, that there are innumerable genera and species 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 201 

of physical bodies, and, in like manner, I judge that the Almighty 
has not been less bountiful and magnificent in His spiritual creation. 
Hence, I conclude that there are also many distinct kinds or genera 
and species of spiritual bodies ; but of the essence of them, I acknow- 
ledge my ignorance. Immense strata of rocks, I am told, are com- 
posed altogethei- of animalcules, coated over with a mineral protec- 
tion or covering, and if by acids, or other chemical agents, you 
dissolve the stone, the animalcules are displayed to sight. For 
aught that I know, all inanimate matter may be thus, only a coat- 
ing or covering for physical organized bodies, and these physical, 
organized bodies only another and more finely wrought form of 
integument for the inward and pure spirit. By the phrase, ^^pure 
spirit,^^ as used here, in this connexion, I do not mean moral pure- 
ness, but merely an entire freedom from mixture with matter. And 
according to this conception, there may be an immeasurable grada- 
tion and variety in the spiritual universe, tending upwards from an 
outward assimilation to the lowest and most minute atom of mineral 
or vegetable substance, to pure, disimbodied spirit, made and living 
in the image of God.* 

However, this notion about the grades, or varieties of spirits, I do 
not mention, as any thing of consequence in our present inquiry. 
But it is of consequence, and deeply of consequence, that whatever 
we may think of the spirits of other animals, the spirit of mam 
is an existing pure substance, capable of an existence distinct from 
matter : and indeed, not only capable of such an existence, but its 
most perfect condition, and that in which it most nearly approaches 
to the character of God, is a disimbodied state, seeing God, in His 
relation of the Lord Jesus, face to face. 

Men who believe without sufficient evidence, are credulous and 
foolish. Men who do not believe upon sufficient evidence, are 
obstinate and foolish. If persons will attend to what they them- 
selves have seen, or may see, in natural somnambulism, or in the 
artificial state called the mesmeric, they will perceive enough to con- 
vince them that the mind is capable of action, without the necessity 
of aid from our bodily senses, in their usual channels. The subject 
is filled with mystery to me. I do not understand it. But I cannot 

•* I do not mean that they pass to purification by transmigration of souls. For I have no 
idea that a soul or spirit of one genus, can be metamorphosed into a soul or spirit of'a 
distinct genus. Genera are, by a law of universal nature, kept distinct. And the body, I 
doubt not; is conformed to the genus of the spirit. 

26 



202 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

doubt, that the mind does act, in such a condition, by an energy 
superior to the obstacles which matter successfully interposes to our 
ordinary mental or spiritual operations. The subject is worthy — 
What? A theory? No: but it is worthy, and demands a most 
careful observation and series of experiments, to collect facts, from 
which the laws of God, in relation to this department of knowledge, 
may be discovered and arranged. 

Who will say that this spirilual or sympathetic communion, di- 
rectly between mind and mind, does not influence many of our feel- 
ings and passions in life ? A panic seizes an army : the bravest man 
flies. An impulse goes through an assembly engaged in religious 
exercise, and men, women, and children, are acted on as by a spell. 
A person visits a crowded party of evil and vicious persons ; he 
enters a gambling room, or a large assembly where many corrupted 
thoughts are fermenting in the bosoms of those, with whom he is 
placed in contact, and he feels a moral, pestilential atmosphere upon 
his soul, hurrying him on, by the influence of a mysterious agency, 
to crime and pollution ; an influence which cannot be wholly 
accounted for, by the words which he may hear, or the actions 
which he may see. Spirit acts upon spirit. Be guarded, therefore ; 
shun the assemblies of the wicked, and sit not, " in the seat of the 
scornful." 

Schoolmen are in the habit of assuming the most absurd and 
contradictory notions of spirit, upon mere dogmas ; they will 
manufacture a definition of it, and then from their definition, they 
draw out the most foolish conclusions, and look or speak the whole 
time, as if they were grave teachers and learned professors. Spirit, 
say they, exists no where ; it occupies no space, and as it has 
no property in common with matter, we cannot afiirm of it, exten- 
sion or figure : spirit, therefore, they conjecture, (except the infinite 
Spirit,) may not be any thing more than a latent essence, or inert 
power, until compacted by m^atter. 

But why do they exempt the Supreme Being Himself, from the 
law of their assumption ? Why not consider Him, also, as nothing 
but a mere latent essence, a mere inert power ? 

It may possibly be true, that spirit has no quality which can be 
affirmed of matter. But what right have I to assume the position, 
simply on my own assertion ? Aristotle fabricated a law concern- 
ing the velocity of falling bodies, and from his day, to the time of 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 203 

Galileo, the learned men and the world, believed as Aristotle said. 
Church philosophers, of the present era, are even yet, no wiser 
than Aristotle ; their learning is the traditions of schools, and the 
fabrications of men. 

I admit, however, that an infinity of things or qualities, may be 
affirmed of a finite spirit, positively or negatively, which cannot be 
affirmed of the Deity. That which has no limit, cannot have 
figure, and He who is infinite and omnipresent, must every where, 
and at one and the same time, be full and perfect : and even did we 
know with precision, what a finite spirit is, we should still be 
infinitely far off from a knowledge of God. We must receive our 
knowledge of Him, from His own word. We cannot know the 
Deity by experiment, as we do objects in natural science ; nor by 
consciousness, as we know ourselves. The Lord Himself, and He 
only, can declare Himself 

But in regard to all spirit, I start upon no theory. I confess my 
entire inability to comprehend it, and bow myself to the revelation in 
Scripture, and to the lessons of consciousness, and unvarying obser- 
vation. If dogmas kept the world in physical darkness, would they 
not also keep the world in spiritual darkness ? Be careful how you 
admit the authority of a definition ; for under the lurking treachery of 
set words, you may adopt an error, which will bar your improvement, 
or the mental advance of the human race, for many centuries.* 

* If one person is permitted to define a spirit, as a latent energy existing no where, why 
may I not define it, as a latent energy not existing at all 1 I might define matter to be 
every thing which exists, and spirit to be something Avhich does not exist ; and in thus 
assuming the nature of them, I should be as consistent and intelligible as the schoolmen. 

Judging from my own consciousness, and from uniform observation, I believe that 
spirit occupies space. Also, I believe, that a spirit not having infinite power, may, by a 
Supreme Spirit, having all power, be compelled to abide and remain in any space. But yet 
the space is not the spirit, nor is it necessary to my idea of spirit, except, as the idea of 
space is necessary to the idea of the extension of an existing substance. 

Whether a spirit possesses impenetrability, I cannot even conjecture. Nor even if it 
had impenetrability, could I conclude that there may not be an all-present, and every 
where acting infinite and Supreme Spirit, pervading all creation: for I cannot explain the 
mystery of the daily phenomena of electricity and galvanism. If we know not earthly 
things, how can we know heavenly things 1 And who can know the Deity in His infinity! 
His existence, it is impossible for us to doubt ; for no finite intelligence could now exist 
unless Supreme Intelligence had existed from eternity, and we cannot think of this eternal 
mind, except as being Infinite, and every where full and perfect, as well as eternal. These 
are plain, undeniable truths. But the manner of the existence of the Lord, or of our own 
souls, who can telll Let us abide the teaching of the Father of Lights, and not antici- 
pate His instruction, by assumed theories. If we form conjectures, let us test them by 
the sure rules of consciousness and observation. 



204 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

What ground have we for believing that any of the faculties of 
reason, volition, or sensibility, belonging to spirit, are destroyed or 
impaired by a dissolution of the union of spirit and body ? As 
matter acts directly upon spirit, and spirit upon matter, our present 
union with the flesh, is a medium for exciting certain feelings and 
desires in reference to the body, which, without the body, might not 
exist. A disimbodied spirit may no longer be capable of being 
wounded by a sword : and so an imbodied spirit which keeps out of 
the way of a sword, may be in no danger of being wounded by it 
again ; but yet both these spirits may have a consciousness of having 
been formerly wounded. The pain is not in the flesh, it is in the 
spirit. 

Some persons imagine that death destroys sin, and they suppose 
sin to be an affection of the body ; a disimbodied spirit, say they, 
can have no affinity for sin. I believe of this kind, are all or nearly 
all of the churches now known as the Universalist. One proof, if I 
mistake not, which they offer, is the text, " so also, is the resurrec- 
tion of the dead ; it is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorrup- 
tion."* The sins, they suppose, of the dead hody^ are purged out, 
and then it is raised pure and holy, and re-united to the spirit, which^ 
as they assert, was and must always be pure and holy : for a spirit, 
they think, is incapable of sin. And as they suppose that all dead 
bodies are raised^ they teach that this resurrection includes a resur- 
rection from sinful corruption ; for '' the dead shall be raised 
incorruptible. ^''\ This is an argument, which I have heard used in 
favor of universal salvation. 

Totally wrong as they are, in the application of this text to the 
body, (for the body has neither holiness nor sin,) they are right in 
alleging that the " incorruptible'^ resurrection here spoken of, means 
a resurrection from sin. For by faith, we are instantly, here in this 
life, arisen from the dead ; and then it is that our before corrupt 
souls, put on incorruption or truth. This is the " immortality :" 
as Christ said to Martha, " Whosoever liveth, and believeth in me, 
shall never die.^^ The Universalists seek this life in the resurrec- 
tion of a dead, fleshly body : they know nothing about the resur- 
rection of the spirit, by faith in Christ, our God , and they, as well 
as the Limitarians, are in death and hell. 

* 1 Cor. XV. 42. t Ibid, verse 52. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 205 

It appears to be a prevailing opinion, that a disimbodied spirit 
will grow in knowledge and holiness, in some other way than by a 
natural increase of its powers and attainments, through the exer- 
cise of all its proper faculties, sentiments, and instincts. I have no 
such thought. I believe our advance in perfection, in the future 
world, is only a continuation of the principles by which we advance 
here ; except that I deem it most probable, the spirit will exist 
separately from matter : or, if it have a material body, that body 
will be continued, or assumed instantly, at the dissolution of the 
grosser, outer covering, at what is called our natural death. I have 
no idea, that if a spirit does not know mathematics or history, in 
this world, it will, by a miracle^ know it in the next ; or, if it is 
vain-glorious, or ambitious, here, that it will be humble and free 
from conceit, by its disimbodyment. No doubt, however, our spir- 
itual powers will become inconceivably enlargedjby separation from 
matter, and a change of place may, by a natural connexion between 
cause and effect, produce immense changes in our perceptions and 
affections. But still, however vast these sudden acquisitions may 
then be, there will eternally remain loants before us, the perception 
of which will excite in us desires ; those desires will impel us to 
action, and our actions will be good or bad, as now they are good 
or bad, by faith in, and obedience to, the commands of our hea- 
venly Father. For ever, the same laws of holiness, and of repent- 
ance, and faith, will have authority upon us, as now govern us. 
Our growth in righteousness will be like the divine growth of the 
child Jesus, typified by His body. And as our perfection will never 
be absolute, but only relative, and we shall never know all things, 
even the faithful and diligent will err, through ignorance, and 
shall need to bring forth the fruits of restitution and amendment, 
when the matter shall come to their knowledge. Thus will it be 
with the righteous. Also, I doubt not, the condition of the unbe- 
lieving will be a continuance of their present mental state ; none 
of our powers of repentance and faith will be impaired, except by 
an increased voluntary disinclination to holiness. But if, at any 
time, we shall really call upon the Lord in sincerity, and place our- 
selves in harmony with His will, the fount of His eternal salvation 
will be opened to us, and the same keys of death and hell which 
here unlock our prison gates, will unbar them hereafter. 



206 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

All time present, is a probationary period for all future time, now 
and for ever. Each present moment is, in some sense, the parent 
of that which succeeds, and this day carries in its events the influ- 
ences which are to co-operate with all past time, in determining our 
destiny to-morrow. I cannot see that this law will ever be other- 
wise. Eternally the stream of our existence and mental character 
and condition, will flow on, by continuation, from the present and 
the past ; and at ten millions of years from the instant now passing, 
the hour which shall then be transpiring, will also be probationary 
of the fate of each created soul whatever, whether then newly born, 
or having existed from the beginning. 

This consideration should eause us well to meditate upon 
the importance of our fleeting moments, and to apply them to 
a good use ; for these atoms of time are our eternity ; they are 
our life. 

If it be conceded that our faculties exist in a future state, and that 
our mind loses none of its powers of action, I look upon it as 
demonstrable that finally, at some period or other, our hearts will 
turn to God, by faith. For the Lord has constituted us with refer- 
ence to His worship ; neither will He permit us to be happy in sin, 
but continually He holds up the truth before us. He breaks the 
idols of our affections, and grinds them to powder. As He is all- 
powerful, wise, and good, His chastisements and love will finally 
prevail, and work out His will in our salvation. As He saves some, 
so will He save all, viz : by the use of means, and by requiting every 
man according to his deeds. Some are converted when young in 
this life ; others in old age ; and the residue at still more distant 
seasons, in their future abode, according to the free will of each : 
but eventually the purpose of God, as manifested in our creation, 
will be triumphant over the last adversary, and every knee shall 
bow to Jesus, and every tongue confess to Him, calling Him 
the Lord their righteousness and strength, and coming to Him 
with worship, '' and all that are incensed against Him, shall be 
ashamed."* 

The doctrine of universal salvation is fully taught by the in- 
struction communicated under the type of the risen body of Christ, 
viz : the resurrection. His living body is a type of the souls of 
believers, living by faith in God. His dead body is a type of the 

* Isai. xlv. 22-25. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 207 

souls of the unbelieving, who are not animated by the Spirit of the 
Lord. Christ will not leave His dead body in the grave ; but will 
enter into it by His spirit, and bring it up from hell to heaven. 
Death and hell cannot retain their spoil : our dead spirits shall all 
arise. 

The very crucifixion of our Lord proves it. Christ is grieved 
by the transgressions and miseries of His brethren ; He has no 
pleasure in the death of the wicked : but His joy is great when the 
unrighteous turn from their evil and live. If any one were in hell 
eternally, the sympathy of the compassionate Saviour would be 
eternally pained, and He v/ould grieve for that lost soul. It is not 
possible that the God of the whole earth should be thus for ever 
crucified afresh, and put to an open shame.* Anti-Christ rejoices 
in an eternal hell ; but the meek and loving Jesus devoted His own 
life to death, that He might destroy death ; and He has full power 
to accomplish His divine purpose. 

The remaining points, which are involved in the question, I 
will throw into the form of objections and answers. 

Objection. There are two resurrections spoken of: the first, 
the resurrection of life, and the second, the resurrection of damna- 
tion. The word resurrection, therefore, does not always mean a 
spiritual resurrection by faith in Christ. 

Ansiuer. No. It means a change in the principle of life, affecting 
all our thoughts, feelings, and actions. The only evidence to us, 
of its character, is its fruits. By our fruits, we are known. Those 
who, by faith in Christ, do good, experience the resurrection of the 
just, or of life, and those who by a false profession in Christ, do 
evil, experience the resurrection of the unjust, or of damnation. 
By way of eminence, the word " resurrection,''^ is applied to denote 
our ascent from the grave of unbelief, by a true faith in Christ our 
God and Saviour. But figuratively, also, it is applied to those who 
falsely profess the name of God, and who do evil, under a pretended 
faith, which should lead them to holiness. Such persons, when 
Christ is preached to them, arise from one grave of unbelief, to sink 
more deeply into another, and remain in their sins, under the ruin- 
ous conception, that God permits them to keep alive their impatient 
and uncharitable tempers, and to continue in transgression : they 
spare the Canaanites of their hearts. The witnesses of the resur- 

» Heb.Ti.6. 



208 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

rcction of Christ, witness it, by showing the power of His resurrection 
upon their spirits, viz : in all their thoughts, words, desires, temper, 
deportment, and actions. The laws of God, operate inevitably in 
favor of those holy confessors, and they enjoy a heaven. Those 
who profess Christ, but who do evil, and thus make God the minister 
of sin, suffer a hell in their own affections and works. 

Objection. Under your opinion of the resurrection, how do you 
understand the phrase, — " the second death ?" 

Answer. I understand it in the way, that I have just mentioned. 
Jude says of the insincere Christians, who were clouds, yielding no 
nourishing water, trees without fruit, that they are " twice dead," 
(verse 12,) that is to say, they were in the second death, or in the 
hell and lake of fire of their own hearts. They are withered 
branches, which abide not in the vine, and whose end, is to be 
gathered and cast into the furnace. 

Objection. But John describes a judgment day, when the dead, 
small and great, stand before God, and the books are opened, con- 
taining the sentences of life and death ; the dead are judged, by 
what is written in the books. 

Ansioer. Certainly : thus it is always ; every day, is a judgment 
day, and every moment, is a judgment moment. But particular 
great eras, or transitions in the world, changing the face of churches 
and of nations, are called emphatically, the sitting of the judgment. 
The Babylonish captivity was such a judgment. John the Baptist, 
announced such a day; "And now also, the axe is laid unto 
the root of the trees ; therefore, every tree which bringeth not forth 
good fruit, is hewn down and cast into the fire." And a like time 
is come at this age of the world ; for now the iniquities of the Gen- 
tiles are full, and it is the last day or period with us. 

The books of life, and the books of death, are nothing but the 
holy Scriptures, wherein are recorded the promises of life to the 
faithful, and the threats or curses of death to the unbelieving. Read 
Deut.,^chapters xxvii., xxviii., and you will understand the opening of 
the books, and the knoAvledge or perception of judgment. Imagine 
not that any word of God, can fall to the ground ; we are, and ever 
will be judged precisely, and with the most minute and absolute 
accuracy by the truths of Holy Writ. The dead, both small and 
great, including all who are dead to sin, by faith in God, and all 
who are dead in sin and transgression, by disobedience, do, and ever 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 209 

will stand before God ; and they are always judged according to 
their works. At times of great judgments, many wicked people, 
by sincere repentance and faith in God, escape from the sea of 
unbelief, and the death and hell of a false life ; they flee from 
the evil which they see approaching, and are saved. But those 
who remain obstinate, cannot be saved nor concealed, neither by 
the sea, nor by death' and hell ; but they are most surely judged, 
condemned, and destroyed ; and their refuge of falsehoods can bring 
them no succor. 

Objection. This doctrine of universal salvation, encourages sin. 
Answer. Not so ; but the very contrary. For not only is the 
universal salvation of the righteous true, but the universal damna- 
tion of the doers of iniquity, is also true. The wicked are, and 
eternally will be, in hell ; and their wickedness and hell continue, 
until by their own free, voluntary choice, they come to God, by faith, 
and scrupulously and faithfully do all His commandments. It is 
not saying *'Lord," " Lord," that will save you, while you perform 
not the works of God. Unless your righteousness exceed the right- 
eousness of the present churches, you can, in no case, enter into 
the kingdom of heaven : look to it, therefore ; and instead of wishing 
an eternal hell for others, as if you were showing a great zeal for 
God, by making your brethren stand aside, and shutting them up 
in unending wickedness, do you yourself repent and turn to God. 
Search and try your heart, your temper and disposition, and prove 
yourself whether your name or character is written in the book of 
life. For not one jot of that book shall fail. 

Objection. But why need I repent in this life 1 At death, we 
shall all see God, and then I can know Avhat choice to make : cer- 
tainly it will then be my free choice to go to heaven. 

Answer, Look at the Jews, those angels or messengers of God, 
who kept not their first estate, but departed from the Lord ; how- 
have they been chained down in iron bands of darkness, until the 
judgment now about to be revealed ! Look at the Gentiles, the 
chosen people, who were accepted in the place of the Jews, but 
who also rejected the faith ; how many long hundreds of years are 
passed since the plagues of an impartial Deity, were poured out 
upon them ! Jews and Gentiles sinned against the Holy Ghost, and 
fearful has been their doom, and yet is. From this you may learn, 
that presumption in sin, by^ a natural effect, brings you into hard- 
27 



210 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

ened iniquity, obstinacy, blasphemy, and ignorance ; and surround 
you with circumstances of your own producing, so adverse and 
fatal to amendment, that, not until you shall have passed through 
a most fiery and appalling ordeal, can you be brought to a state of 
mind, ready to accept the proffered mercy. All the idols and adver- 
saries in our affections and desires, must be burned to cinders ; and 
we shall drink them to their very dregs. 

It is is a mistaken notion to suppose, that, at physical death, the 
wicked enter into heaven. It is not the body that sins, but the 
soul. The soul, which here says, there is no God, we are here by 
chance, may think or say the same thing in a world of spirits : for 
if this world may be made and peopled by chance, so may a world 
of spirits. Forever we shall see before us, an infinity of objects 
which we cannot comprehend ; and he who here, will not be teach- 
able, as a little child, may commit the same sin of obstinacy here- 
after. We shall always feel the want of something, and that want 
will make its appeal to our tastes, sentiments, or instincts ; hence in a 
future world, we shall all be exposed to the same vain-glory, ambi- 
tion, unjust acquisitiveness, and wrath, which now seize upon us, 
unless we be guarded by the same faith, which here must be our 
protection. Our future life, will, spiritually considered, be a con- 
tinuation of our perfect life, and subject to the same laws. In this 
life, the tendencies of sin exert themselves to make a separation 
between the righteous and the wicked ; this tendency, invariably 
existing, proves a law of nature. In the world to come, I doubt not 
that this tendency will be actually accomplished, and that there will 
be, not only a spiritual but a local separation of Israel and Egypt. 
There are many mansions in heaven, and many mansions in hell ; 
the spirit, after the dissolution of the body, I make no question, is 
gathered to its fathers or its kindred in faith : the wicked do not see 
God ; they go to their own place. 

But grant that the wicked should stand visibly in the presence 
of the Deity, and speak to Him, and see Him face to face, as the 
Scribes and Pharisees, and as Pilate saw Christ, and conversed with 
Him. What folly is it to suppose that the wicked would then 
either recognize the Lord, as God, or that they would admire His 
goodness or wisdom, or adore His providences, or humble themselves 
before His power and sovereignty. People who think this of them- 
selves, are wofully mistaken as to the hardness of the carnal mind, 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. ' 211 

its deceitfulness, and ignorance. Why do they not now turn to God ? 
Is there no evidence of His existence, His presence, and govern- 
ment? Yes ; all things are full of proof: yet they say, we want 
Him not ; He is a satan, away with Him, crucify Him : He casts 
out devils by beelzebub ; we are stronger and wiser and holier than 
He : His words are absurdity and contradiction, and His judgments, 
iniquity. There is no possible way, ever to come to God, but 
through Christ Jesus. I do not conceive, that there ever will be a 
state or condition in which it will be easier to know the Lord, than 
in the position in which mankind are placed here on this globe. 
For here we are infants, and we are brought to the infant Jesus ; and 
every physical occurrence, is either a type, or a lesson, to teach us 
a knowledge of God, and to bring the Lord near to all our senses. 
How immensely absurd and blasphemous is it for any one to 
delay his conversion to God, under the expectation, that it would 
be easier and better for him to accept life, to-morrow than to-day ! 
If he prolong his course one moment in sin, his future glory and 
elevation will forever be the less by the full value of that one single 
instant. Beside that moment may during millions of centuries of 
years, retard his regeneration, and influence his destiny ! For if 
he should physically die, or depart from this life, before his con- 
version, his soul, would, as we have every reason to believe, be 
gathered to the place set apart for spirits of that frame of mind ; and 
then when might it be before the light of divine truth, should enter 
that abode of darkness ! How do we know that spirits can wander 
wherever they please through space ? It may be that they are 
fixed in a certain region of habitation, and that they cannot depart 
from it, unless God speaks the word. We may well suppose, that 
the Lord intends that such of them, as are cast out into an orb of 
imprisonment, and who may there be converted, shall not be per- 
mitted to leave it, until by their instrumentality, all their brother 
demons in that region or sphere of existence, shall be brought to a 
right knowledge of the Lord. It may be many circles of revolving 
times, before any lost spirit, who is ingulfed in that abyss, shall see 
the light ; and then it may be countless periods afterwards, before 
that lost world, shall all be brought to feel the power of Christ's 
resurrection. By carrying out and applying to a future existence, 
the operations of the same laws, but in a spiritual sense, which 
govern and control our lives and destinies on earth, we may con- 



212 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

jecture the fearful terrors of the damned in the death and hell, which 
lie beyond the material grave. 

Objection. If we reason from ihe laws of nature, by which our 
lives, upon this sphere, are controlled, we should be induced to 
believe that the good and the evil will all dwell in one place, and be 
mixed together, as here they are, and that God will make His sun 
to shine, and His rain to fall, on all alike. As the early disciples 
had a miraculous gift of tongues, and other divine powers, we can- 
not deny, that instantly, at the dissolution of the union of soul and 
body, the soul will supernaturally be made to know all things ; it 
will have a miraculous gift of knowledge. This is a reasonable 
conjecture ; because we cannot doubt that God desires the instant 
conversion of all ; therefore. He will place them in the most favor- 
able circumstances for their benefit. 

Ansioer. In proportion as any man is wise, he appoints a fixed 
order and set time for the execution of his purposes. The husband- 
man ploughs, then he opens and breaks the clods ; when he has made 
the face of his land plain, he casts abroad the fitches, and scatters 
the cummin, and casts in the principal wheat, and the appointed 
barley, and the rye, in their place. Can we persuade ourselves, 
that the Lord of hosts is less wonderful in counsel, and excellent in 
working, than man ; or that He has not a set and well ordered time 
and distribution of parts in all His doings ? Most undoubtedly He 
will separate the evil from the just, and this is abundantly declared, 
both in the word of God and in the laws of nature. 

God did, indeed, in confirming the mission of our Saviour, in the 
infancy of His new dispensation, abolish the Jewish ordinances, by 
miracles, no less powerful than those by which He had originally 
established them. But it does not follow that He will act towards 
the maturity of a dispensation, in the same manner as He conducted 
His providences towards its infancy ; for infancy requires one kind 
of food, and manhood another. Neither would a continuance of 
miracles be conducive to our spiritual strength and growth. Our 
faculties are exercised by the action of them, and not by miracles, 
which supersede their use. There is no question, the more we advance 
in perfection, the more will the Lord display Himself to us as a God of 
wisdom^ viz : by an unerring manifestation of a connexion between 
cause and effect, or between our faculties, or the use of them, and 
our works and condition. It was only for a short time that the 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 213 

miracles of tongues and healing continued with the disciples. 
Behevers now have them not. A dependence on miracles would 
keep us always in childhood. Suppose that a parent wished to 
teach his son the art or science of finding his way through a vast 
forest, would it be better for the father to go before the son some 
days' journey, and make marks on the trees with an axe, to direct 
the steps of the youth coming after him? or, would it be more 
advisable to instruct him how to guide his path by the heavens, and 
by the moss, and branches, and leaves of the trees, and all other signs ' 
known to woodmen 1 If the forest were filled with enemies, the father 
would be very careful not to commit his boy to the guidance of 
the axe marks ; for he would know, that without more readiness of 
mind than such a mode of tuition could confer, the lad would never 
be strong in mind, nor secure from imposture and error. But if he 
made him well acquainted with the practical knowledge, befitting 
persons dwelling in forests, he might feel assured, that the young 
man would possess both courage and address, and would, in every 
difficulty, have a prompt means of detecting the deceits and trails of 
a foe, and of guarding his own steps from dangerous pursuit. From 
a like reason it is that God exercises our faculties, so that we may 
know good from evil, and that we may choose life and avoid death. 
We are free and accountable agents, and the Lord places before us 
the objects and motives suited to the constitution of our minds. If 
we prefer death to life, the fault is in ourselves. The Loid has no 
desire that we should perish ; He entreats us to hear His voice, and 
live. But He cannot save us in any other way than by requiting 
us according to our works. Any other mode would perpetuate sin. 
There can be no hohness without free choice. Neither can there 
be any strength of holiness without such a diligent use of all our 
faculties, as will bring every power within us to the highest action 
and perfection. 

Can any one hesitate to aflfirm, that the Messiah desired the con- 
version of all the Jews ] Yet, did He convert them to faith in Him 
by a miracle ] Did He not destroy Jerusalem 1 Did He not cast the 
people abroad among all nations 1 Has He not left them to this day, 
a prey and a spoil, a bye- word and a tenor 1 Is not their banish- 
ment from His presence as eternal as their own voluntary unbelief 
and hardness of heart ? Is not the spiritual law of God as inflexible 
and inexorable as His physical laws ? If a man leap headlong from 



214 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

the roof of a high building, he will perish ; if a man precipitate 
himself from the true faith, he will likewise perish. It would be 
very injurious, if the Lord should abolish the connexion between 
cause and effect in His material government, and it would be no 
less injurious, if the moral connexion between cause and effect 
were removed in spiritual agency. 

Let those, who flatter themselves that the Deity will interpose a 
miracle in their favor, contemplate the condition of an infant com- 
mitted to the care and education of wicked and remorseless parents. 
Does God interpose by a miracle for that infant ? Do not the laws 
of nature operate unerringly, and with a self-executing tendency, in 
such a case 1 Yet our heavenly Parent continually desires the 
repentence and reformation of the whole earth, and is grieved for 
our iniquities. But the fact is, that in no other way, as already 
said, than by rendering to each one a recompense according to our 
deeds, can He bring us to salvation, or conform us to His image. In 
vain will you seek for deliverance, except by your voluntarily coming 
to the cross of God, and following Jesus to Calvary. 

Objection. If we cannot be saved, except through the cross of 
Christ, this is an argument, that for the wicked in the next world 
there can be no salvation. In the next world, how can the cross of 
God be preached ] After death, the wicked can do no good work. 
Ecclesiastes says, ''Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with 
thy might ; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor 
wisdom in the grave, whither thou goest."* 

Answer. After our death, we can do no act to affect the condi- 
tion of the residents in this world. Therefore, let the wicked, before 
death, be quick to make restitution, and to do all proper acts, while 
life is spared to them : for no work of theirs, beyond the grave, can 
reach back to remedy the effects of their past vices upon earth. 

Also, let those who, by supineness, are sinking into spiritual death, 
have a care to themselves lest they perish, and be given up to impeni- 
tent hardness of heart. For in the grave of unbelief, to which 
they are hastening, there is no pious work, nor device, nor know- 
ledge, nor wisdom. 

But Ecclesiastes did not mean, that the dead cannot do any work, 
nor obtain knowledge, nor arrive at wisdom, in the world of spirits. 
Because if you should interpret his passage in that sense, you would 

* Eccl. ix. 10. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 215 

render him an infidel and an atheist. His sentence is unrestricted, 
and if you take it literally, it denies any existence whatever after 
death, either of the righteous or the unbelieving ; for he says, 
" there is no work, nor device, nor knoiolcdge^ nor wisdom, in the 
grave :" that is to say, death is annihilation. 

In the grave of unbelief, whether in this world, or the next world, 
there is no good work. For all the works of the unbelieving are 
death and hell ; the unrighteous proceed only from one mansion, to 
a deeper mansion in the unfathomable abyss. Yet, although you 
can do no good work in unbelief, you can, notwithstanding, escape 
from death and hell, and pass to heaven. How? Simply by ceas- 
ing to be in unbelief, and believing in the Lord Jesus Christ. Your 
'faith then, is counted for righteousness. This is the law of salva- 
tion for those who are in death and hell, whether in this world, or 
the world to come. 

Why cannot the cross of Christ, be preached to the damned in 
another world ? That world, if peopled by departed spirits from 
this earth, will be filled with Jewish Scribes and Pharisees, and 
with a mis-called Christian clergy, who, for more than fourteen hun- 
dred years, have occupied, as their own, the pulpits and the altars 
of Christendom ; also with their flocks and admirers, who sat under 
their preaching, and received their words as holy manna. Probably 
you may find many there, who, if they should unite their memories, 
would be able to rehearse the whole Book of God. What hinders 
that the gospel should be preached in a future hell, as well as in 
the present hell. The whole of that gospel rests upon the two 
commandments, love to God and love to man, and the precepts are 
plain enough, only men do not choose to harken to them. Beside, 
from the beginning to the end of the Scriptures, you find parable 
upon parable, type after type, and metaphors, and comparisons drawn 
from innumerable objects and incidents in common life. Foolish 
men now complain of this typical, parabolic style of the Bible ; but 
from this cause, the Scriptures may be indelibly engraven upon 
the memories of all who have heard or read them : departed 
spirits may carry the word with them in their minds forever. At 
length, under the providences of the Lord, His chastisements will 
be made effectual in turning some child of sin among the disimbo- 
died intelligences, to a right reception and application of the Bible 
truths. Those among them, who died here, as murderers, and 



216 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

publicans, and harlots, may possibly, hunger and thirst for the pure 
salvation, sooner than those who, in this life, flourished as priests 
and elders, bishops, and arch-bishops, and popes : by the instru- 
mentality of these new preachers, others may be converted, until 
at last the entire reign of death may be vanquished. But 
vanquished, all death, even the death of priest-craft, finally, must 
be, however the reform may be destined to take place ; for as in 
Adam, all die, so in Christ, shall all be made alive : the fulness of 
the body of Christ, must be co-extensive with His entire rational 
creation. 

Objection, Your doctrine is the Purgatory of the Catholics. 

Ansioer. Suppose it were ! Am I to be put down, by being called 
names, and by its being said this is Pelagianism, or Socinianism, or' 
Sabellianism ; or that it was known and refuted a long time ago, 
under some obnoxious name ? If you can refute it, refute it now / 
and do not condemn me, by asserting what was heretofore done by 
councils. I know that the Bride of the Lord was expelled from 
the churches, many hundred years since ; but that is no reason 
why injustice should always prevail. 

This reply I make, because I do not admit the fairness of such 
an objection as the last : a kind of objection very common with 
bigoted and narrow minds. When they cannot discover proofs 
and arguments really suited to the subject, they betake themselves 
to some unpopular name, and think that they decide every thing by 
a discreditable epithet. 

But now in answer, I state that there is no resemblance whatever, 
between the Catholic doctrine of Purgatory, and the true Scriptural 
doctrine of universal salvation, which I have declared. 

Purgatory among Catholics, is a supposed place or state, after 
death, in which the souls of persons are purified, or in which they 
expiate such offences committed in this life, as do not merit eternal 
damnation. After this purgation from the impurities of sin, the 
souls are supposed to be received into heaven. * 

But my faith is that no sufferings can be an equivalent for sin, 
and that no chastisement is ever inflicted as a revenge or satisfac- 
tion for past transgressions, but flows as an effect and as a corrective 
punishment, to bring us to holiness. The longer we remain in hell, 
the more numerous and aggravated does our iniquity become ; on 

* I have taken this description from Webster's Dictionary— word, « Purgatory." 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 217 

the supposition, that the punishment of hell is a revenge for past 
disobedience, each moment in hell, would demand a new infliction 
of divine wrath, and so we should never escape from banishment. 

Hell has no effect to make us love holiness. But our punish- 
ments in hell, have, most assuredly, the effect to destroy our idols, 
and to take from us our pleasures, and when we are brought to a 
state of utter hopelessness and destitution, we look round and say, 
I have no comfort here, who shall deliver me from this death ? It 
is to this hungering and thirsting state of mind, that the promises 
of life and salvation in Christ are applied : for the full do not need 
a Saviour, but the empty and the grieved, those who know and 
feel themselves to be, by their own sins, borne down and trodden 
under foot, in the dust. 

Paul writes to the Corinthians, " know ye not that the unright- 
eous shall not inherit the kingdom of God ? Be not deceived, 
neither fornicators nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor 
abusers of themselves with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor 
drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom 
of God. And such, were some of you ; but ye are washed, but 
ye are sanctified, but ye are justified, in the name of the Lord 
Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God."* 

What ! is it absolutely true that no thief, nor drunkard, nor 
extortioner, shall ever inherit the kingdom of God ? Shall he never 
enter there ? Yes ; it is now and forever true : the gates of hea- 
ven are eternally sealed against all such. But I see among the 
persons in that assembly, here on this earth, where the gospel is 
preached, an individual who is one or other of the characters 
against whom the curse is denounced ; shall that person never 
enter heaven ? No : not while he is a thief, a drunkard, an extor* 
tioner, or any of the names or characters against whom the curse 
is spoken ; but if he shall turn from all his sins, and keep the 
Lord's statutes, and do that which is lawful and right, then he 
becomes a new creature, and he is no longer under the curse, but 
under the promise. At that instant, he obtains a free entrance into 
the mansions of bliss, as a son of God. For he was such as Paul 
mentions ; but now he is washed, sanctified, and justified. To- 
day, while we are yet in this existence, you proclaim the gospel 
of life to an unrighteous man : but he rejects the offer of salvation, 

* 1 Cor. vi. 9-11. 

28 



218 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

and continues impenitent. Thirty years afterwards, however, 
the same person, here in this same life, becomes repentant, and is 
justified by faith in Christ. During that period of his obstinate 
rejection of divine truth, viz : during that thirty years, through all 
which period he perseveres and increases in presumptuous wicked- 
ness and obduracy, by what title do you call his ^^ place or state ?" 
Do you name it a " purgatory J'' in which his soul is being purified, 
or in which he is expiating his offences ? Do you imagine that any- 
thing which he suffers is an equivalent or satisfaction for sin ? or 
that, by evil acts, he is cleansed and purified for a celestial resi- 
dence ? Undoubtedly not ? For the longer he remains in trans- 
gression, the worse he becomes. The fact is, his state is " death 
and hellj'* and that death and hell are and will be as eternal as his 
unbelief and iniquity. So, in the next world also^ his death and 
hell are a continuance of the state begun here. The only door of 
escape is free pardon, through the grace or abundant mercy and 
love of God, in Christ Jesus. 

Objection. But, if there can be repentance in the next world, 
why does our Lord say of Judas, " it had been good for that man 
if he had not been born ?* 

Answer. " For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the 
world, through the knowledge of the Lord and Saviour, Jesus 
Christ, they are again entangled therein, and overcome, the latter 
end is worse with them, than the beginning. For it had been better 
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than, after 
they have known it, to turn from the holy comm,andment delivered 
unto themT\ "The Zas^ state of that man is worse than the^r5^,"t 
who, having been " born again^'' by the knowledge of the truth, 
returns to his evil house. 

Objection. But Judas never did know the way of truth ; for the 
truth was not set up until the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. 

Answer. The truth was more fully and brightly held up, after 
the death and resurrection of our crucified Redeemer, than it ever 
had been before. But notwithstanding always, all who were saved, 
were saved by faith in God, and in no other manner : for this we are 
informed, by the justification of Abraham and David, through faith, 
and not by works. Judas sinned presumptuously against know- 
ledge^ as appears by the whole transaction, and by his subsequent 
confession. 

* Matt. xxvi. 24. t 2 Pet. ii. 20, 21. % Matt. xii. 45. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 219 

Objection. Wisdom says, "Because I have called, and ye 
refused, I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded ; but 
ye have set at naught all my counsel, and would none of my re- 
proof; I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will mock when your 
fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as desolation, and your 
destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; when distress and anguish 
come upon you, then shall they call upon me, but I will not 
answer ; they shall seek me early, hut they shall not find me."* 
Jesus speaks in a similar manner to the officers sent to arrest him : 
*< Yet a little while, am I with you, and then I go unto Him that 
sent me. Ye shall seek me, and shall not find me ; and where I 
am, thither ye cannot come."t To His disciples, He says, in 
another place, '' The days will come, when ye shall desire to see one 
of the days of the Son of Man, and ye shall not see it."t These, 
and many other like passages, prove that men may strive to seek 
God, and yet that He will not be found by them. He will laugh 
at their calamity, and to their prayers He will turn a deaf ear. 
Such, we have good reason to believe, will be the lost and aban- 
doned state of the wicked in a ^^ future^'' hell, when God shall give 
them up to the lusts of their own hearts. 

Answer. Yes ; and such is now and ever will be the abandoned 
and lost state of the wicked, in their ^^presenf^ hell on this earth, 
and wherever else they may be, here or hereafter. They seek the 
living among the dead ; they seek the risen Jesus, by the works 
of death and hell, and they cannot find Him, because they do not 
seek Him aright. This is the state of the false churches n ow. By 
self-inflictions and fanaticisms, and submission to clerical exactions 
and oppressions, they seek to die to si7i, and to live to Christ ; but 
Christ, or holiness, or death to sin, flees from them : "for that they 
hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the Lord : they 
would none of, [the Lord's^) counsel ; they despised all, {his^) re- 
proof." § To what purpose is the multitude of their sacrifices, their 
vain oblations, their appointed feasts, and their many prayers? 
Their hands are full of blood. But if they wash and cleanse them- 
selves, and put away the evil of their doings ; if they do justly^ 
love mercy, and walk humbly before God, viz : if they love God 
with their whole heart, soul, mind, and strength, and their neigh- 
bor as themselves, (for on these two commandments rest all the 

* ProT. i. 24-28. t John vii. 33, 34. % Luke xvii. 22. § Prov. i. 29, 80. 



220 UNIVERSAL SALAVTION. 

law and the prophets,) then, though their former sins were as scar- 
let, they shall be white as snow ; God would hear them willingly, 
and answer them with joy and salvation. 

But God never laughs at our calamities, in the sense in which 
evil men express delight at the afflictions of others. On the con- 
trary, in all our afflictions, He is afflicted. Witness His exclamation 
to Jerusalem : — " O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the 
prophets, and stonest them, which are sent unto thee, how often 
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen 
gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not. Behold 
your house is left unto you, desolate. For I say unto you, ye shall 
not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is He that cometh 
in the name of the Lord."* They still seek Him, but do not find 
Him. 

When, therefore, it is said that God and His holy angels, rejoice 
over the destruction of the wicked, it cannot be meant that they 
rejoice with delight in their miseries ; but they rejoice that they see 
the end of their calamities approaching. To their false professions 
and prayers, the Lord turns a deaf ear ; the righteous do not wish 
that the bad plans and lives of the depraved should prosper : but, 
at the same time, they hasten with joy to relieve and console the 
contrite and humble. 

Objection. This doctrine of universal salvation, appears to me, 
to take all security from the righteous. For if hell is not eternal, 
neither may heaven be eternal ; for the same phrases, which de- 
scribe the eternity of the one, are employed also, in describing the 
other. What security have I then, that my heaven will be 
unending. 

Answer. All security from the unrighteous, the doctrine cer- 
tainly does take. Think not, that if you commit sin, you can enter 
into heaven ; or that, if you are in heaven, and if you stop short in 
your advancement, or turn aside from the true path, you can con- 
tinue in favor with God. There is but one law for all men ; you 
must he holy as God is holy ; and we should thank God, that 
this is so. The Lord is no respecter of persons ; and He sells no 
indulgence to any person, or class of men, to violate His laws. The 
soul that sins, shall die. Faith is all-important, and why ? Because 
only from the right fountain of faith, can issue the right stream of 

* Matt, xxiii. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 221 

works and holiness. Holiness is the end or design of the law of faith ; 
therefore it is that holiness or charity, is above faith, and above all 
other graces. He who sins ignorantly, against science, or metaphy- 
sical truth, it shall be forgiven him. He, however, who wars 
against piety or holiness, viz : who offends presumptuously, how 
shall he escape the condemnation of the heart-searching Jehovah ? 
If you apply this law of holiness, to the lives of the holy fathers of 
the Churchy as they are called, who carried the red sword of blood 
in their hands, and took peace from the earth, before and after 
Constantine, you will see them fall like lightning, (as lucifers,) from 
heaven to hell, where they belong. For such "saints," or " stars 
of heaven," there is, and should be no security ; they perish as the 
untimely figs of a fig tree, when it is shaken by a mighty wind. 
But gi'eat and abundant, and unceasing security, do the glad tidings 
of universal salvation, afford to all who really love God, and are 
called according to His eternal purpose in Christ. Their heaven is, 
and must be forever unending. 

Our minds are so constituted that we cannot have peace in hell ; 
to be happy we must turn to God, and place ourselves in harmony 
with all His requirements. The effect of the chastisements, which 
the Lord inflicts upon us, is corrective ; and sooner or later all sinful 
men, will hate iniquity, and yield themselves obedient disciples to 
the child Jesus. It is astonishing, how slowly the heart opens itself 
to the perception of truth. For very many hundreds of years, the 
most able men have hugged death to their embrace as life ; they 
would not see their flagrant wickedness, and absurd departure from 
the gospel doctrine. Now, however, we have the advantages 
resulting from the contemplation of their vices, crimes, and chastise- 
ments, as well as our own ; and the harvest is come. Even weak- 
minded men can now see, what, heretofore, the most talented and 
learned men would not behold ; and we have reason to hope, that 
righteousness will cover the land. Such is the happy result arising 
from the constitution of the human mind, operated on, watched 
over, and aided by all the w^orks, providences, and merciful exhibi- 
tions of truth, from our heavenly Father, Saviour, and Sanctifier. 
But because the irresistible tendency of the divine government, is 
to make us hate sin more and more, and to make us love and adhere 
to holiness more and more ; is that any reason why men should fear 
that the power of truth will cease, and that we shall fall from 



222 UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 

heaven ? We quit hell, because it is not conformable to our natures 
as aided by tlie grace revealed in Jesus, and we cling to holiness, 
because holiness is endeared by its own beauty, and yields perpetual 
joy : vice is so odious, that finally, all shall be redeemed from it ; 
and virtue or righteousness so delightful, that we can have no joy but 
in her path ; these opposite qualities of faith and unbehef, the more 
they are developed, the more clearly and pov^erfully they exhibit 
themselves ; yet there are men, at present, weak enough to say, 
that this invincible law of the universal damnation of the wicked, 
and the final restoration of all things, by the triumphant victory of 
holiness in Christ Jesus, renders our heaven insecure ! 

I do not mean, however, that free agents, who have once known 
the truth, cannot fall away from it. Adam did ; David and Solomon 
did, and no doubt, countless numbers beside them. I do not see, 
how men who have once known that two and two are four, can, 
while their memories remain perfect, ever fall away from the know- 
ledge of that truth ; but they may add foolish visions to the truths 
which they know, and so pervert all their knowledge, and go astray 
by a fanciful system of science or practice. But the inevitable 
tendency of all error is to destroy itself, and Christ is an omnipotent 
and unfailing Saviour. Beside, the more we know of truth, the 
less apt we are to recede from it ; and it is both our duty and our pri- 
vilege, to reach forward and attain the firm pinnacle of unyielding 
assurance. It is promised, and it is the consequence of the diligent 
use of all means suited to our condition and capacities. The very 
curses denounced against the backsliding, and against the fearful 
and unbelieving, are incentives to our faithful perseverance ; for 
even in the highest heaven, where no sin is, a voice may still be 
heard saying, '^ Now the just shall live by faith : but if any man 
draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him."* No doubt, 
Christ, who has promised and vowed the universal salvation of all 
men, has taken care, not only that His government shall convert 
the wicked, but that it shall retain and preserve the faithful. 

To prove the perseverance of the saints, it may be thought that 1 
should quote the promise of God to David, delivered by Nathan, in 
regard to Solomon, « when thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt sleep 
with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall pro- 
ceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish his kingdom. He 

* Heb. X. 38. 



UNIVERSAL SALVATION. 223 

shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of 
his kingdom forever. I will be his father, and he shall be my son. 
If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, 
and with the stripes of the children of men : but my mercy shall 
not depart away from him, as I took it from ^aul, whom I put 
away before thee. And thy house and thy kingdom, shall be 
established forever before thee ; thp throne shall be established 
forever."* 

But this promise, I do not think, has reference to the doctrine of 
the perseverance of the saints, but to the fact that the kingdom of 
Judah, should not be taken from the seed of David, as it had been 
taken from Saul. Judah, and the seed of David, were to be pre- 
served until the advent of the Messiah : and our Saviour, Himself, 
is sprung, according to the flesh, from David. The Lord chastised 
the sins of the successors of David, with the rods and stripes of the 
neighboring nations, but he never took the throne entirely from 
them, as he took it from Saul. This, I believe, is the meaning of 
the promise to David. 

Free agents may fall away, and it is recorded that Solomon fell 
away : for his heart was turned away after other gods. There is 
no mention, that I see, of his conversion before his death, and his 
being the son of David, would not save him from the doom of the 
impenitent. Let every man, therefore, who is in the truth, take 
heed to himself, that he continue honest and faithful, and let him 
not hazard his safety by dangerous company, by worldly entice- 
ments and lusts, and by negligent conformities to wicked men. 
Always bear in mind, that the two doctrines, the universal condem- 
nation of the sinful, and the universal salvation of all men, by re- 
pentance and faith, are founded on the one principle of the firm 
determination of the Almighty, that the whole universe of His 
rational creation, shall be united to Him in love and holiness, as 
many members, but one collective body, viz : as the body of the 
man Jesus, quickened and living by the indwelling spirit of our 
Lord Himself. And every man, who has this hope in him, puri- 
fies himself, even as God is pure.t 

* 2 Sam. vii. 12-16. 1 1 John iii. 3. 



224 



NOTE. 

After I had finished Chapter X., I received a letter, in which the writer states that 
time and eternity "are two and distinct," and that "there is no reason for supposing that 
time, however long extended in duration, can or will form any part of" eternity. Repent- 
ance, he says, "can only have place with man, while he lives in iimey the stability of 
which state, is its capability of change. But when man has done with time, there can he 
no more change ; man has become an angel or a devil : he is no longer man ; he has lost 
the capability of change ; he can proceed, eternally, to the perfection of that state of life 
which he is in 5 and which he has made his own, by the love of it while a man." 

I think it can scarcely be necessary, to attempt to disprove these positions. For sup- 
pose that the present time were, if possible, annihilated, could we afterwards say, 
that absolute eternity existed 1 The loss of any speck of time from eternity, would be 
a destruction of eternity in an entire sense. Time means portions of eternity, marked by, 
or having relation to motion ; but eternity itself, is absolute time, considered without 
such relation. 

You might as well allege that any measured space, forms no part of infinite space, as to 
assume that time forms no part of eternity. If I hold a staff in my hand in any direction 
I may say, space is continued infinitely in that direction from my hand, yet it would not 
be correct in me to pretend, that the portion of that infinite space which is measured from 
my hand, by the length of the staff, is no part of the infinity, but is separate and distinct 
from it. I might indeed, say so, and truly, if my object were to afiirm that it is of no 
consequence how many extensions of measured space you subtract from infinity ; the 
remainder is still infinite. But I should be under a misapprehension, if I should aflB^rm 
that relative space, viz : that space which is the interval between any two or more 
objects, as between two stars, constitutes no part of the absolute infinity of extension. 

Men are now, in this life, and ever will be, angels or devils, according as they have the 
spirit of Christ, or the spirit of satan, and by continuance in sin, they only increase sin. 
But when they turn from iniquity, their transgressions are mentioned no more, and they 
are new creatures. We always do, and ever shall make a moral character our own; " by 
the love of it." 



225 



CHAPTER XI. 

PROPHECIES IN DAP«EL. 

" The day cometh, that sh^ll burn as an oven, and all the proud, 
yea, and all that do wickedly, shall be stubble : and the day that 
cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts ; that it shall 
leave them neither root nor branch."* 

The above prophecy, had its fulfilment in the time of the advent 
of our Lord in the flesh, when He was put to death on the cross : 
the fire was a spiritual fire, with a fearful abundance of outward 
afflictions ; but not such a physical fire, as the carnal minded 
look for. I see nothing in the Bible to convince me, that the earth 
may not exist for hundreds of thousands, or millions of centuries to 
come ; in fact, I see no prophecy, that it shall ever physically be 
destroyed : although possibly, and probably, immense changes, 
conflagrations and deluges, may occur from natural causes. Science 
may teach us the doctrine of the future physical destruction of our 
globe, but I do not think that the Scriptures teach it. 

If then the earth shall continue for many thousands or millions 
of centuries to come, and changes and revolutions shall occur in 
future generations of men, in regard to morals, government, society, 
and religion, do you not perceive that the Bible, in order to be a 
perfect book, must extend its prophecies and instruction to the most 
remote periods of our race, as well as to the present day ? Yet, 
the customary mode of the interpretation of prophecies, is to make 
all the Scriptures bear upon a single point of time, and to forget 
the generations who are to succeed us in existence. 

In the seventh chapter of Daniel, the prophet speaks of four kings, 
or kingdoms, which the angel told him *' shall arise out of the 
earth." I cannot be persuaded that the Babylonish empire formed 
any one of these kingdoms ; because the vision was seen in the 
reign of Belshazzar, king of Babylon, and Babylon was then near 
its fall. It had lived its day, and was to perish ; but these four king- 
doms were spoken of in the future tense, '^ which shall arise," 

* Mai. iv. 1. 

29 



ka 



226 PROPHECIES IN DANIEL. 

Having dwelt upon this in ** A Voice to the Jews," I shall now 
only briefl}^ say, that I beheve these four kingdoms are successive 
reigns of death and hell, and, at the destruction of the last one 
of them, there is to be a final end of wickedness on this earth ; 
pure and undefiled Christianity shall then reign forever, as an ever- 
lasting kingdom. 

The first death and hell, which was like a lion, with eagle's 
wings, I believe represents Judah, after the time of Malachi until 
the advent of our Saviour in the body. The lion of the tribe of 
Judah passed under the Roman Herodian yoke ; a man'^s heart of 
baseness and fear, was given to it. 

After the preaching of the gospel to the Gentiles, another reign 
of death and hell gradually was formed, diverse from that which 
had gone before. We are now in that state of death and hell. It 
is represented by a bear, with three rihs ; although I do not know 
that the three ribs are intended to denote the doctrine of the Trinity 
of persons, but, possibly, is only an emblem of the ferocity of the 
beast, yet the whole figure, I conceive, is exceedingly well adapted 
to the state of the present churches. 

The leopard, w^iich is the third reign of death and hell, I think, 
comes up in Revelation ix. 13-21, from which a deliverance will be 
effected, as told in Revelation xi. 13-18. 

The fourth beast, dreadful and terrible, and which, in Daniel, 
is more fully described than the others, makes its appearance, I think, 
in Revelation xx. 7-10. My reason foi" supposing so is, that a state 
of DEATH and HELL then occurs, as is manifest from the language 
used in representing the deliverance from it. You will see that *^a 
new heaven and a new earth," (Rev. xxi. 1,) were then created ; 
which could not have been necessary, if the old heaven, {or 
churches,) and earth, {or nations,) were the residences \pi right- 
eousness. My impression therefore is, that the destruction of the 
fourth state of death and hell, in Daniel, by the sitting of the judg- 
ment, is the same that is meant by John in Revelation xx. 12. 
Daniel describes the death and hell more particularly than John 
does ; but John describes the deliverance more particularly than 
Daniel. It is in some instances the case, in other passages of Scrip- 
ture, that when a subject is once mentioned fully in one place, it is 
only briefly referred to in a subsequent text. 



PROPHECIES IN DANIEL. 227 

Daniel was very much favored with visions and knowledge. 
Some of the visions are particularly explained to him, as, for instance, 
those relating to the Medes and Persians, and Greece : wherefore, 
of such, we can have no doubt whatever. I shall, however, only 
speak further of the last revelation which is recorded in his book, 
chapters xi. and xii. The object of it was, among other things, to 
make him understand what should befall his people, {the Jews^) in 
the latter days : the consummation of it, after a period of very many 
hundred years, is, at this moment, on the very eve of being verified. 

Remember that Jerusalem was an outward, visible type of the 
true church. But after the crucifixion and ascension of our Lord, 
the true church was set up in tlie hearts of our Lord's disciples, and 
Jerusalem ceased to be a representative of it. Therefore, in inter- 
preting a prophecy concerning the church, I would be guided by 
many considerations, in making a distinction between the degree of 
a literal fulfilment of the prophecy before and after the advent of our 
Saviour. Prophecies concerning the state of Jerusalem, while it 
remained the outward sign and type of our Lord's temple, I might 
interpret more literally than I should prophecies having relation to 
the church since that period. But whether I should do so or not, 
would, I admit, depend on all the circumstances, and the whole 
contexL 

I take it for granted, that the object of the angel, in this vision, 
was to make Daniel understand what should befall the churches, or 
professing people, both before and after the advent of our Lord, in the 
flesh, until the time should come when the Jews, at least the greater 
portion of them, should cease their rebellion, and be grafted into 
the true faith, as foretold also by Paul in Romans xi. 24-26. 

Let us how consider the two periods of the church, before and 
after our Lord, and interpret these Scriptures of truth more literally^ 
in reference to typical Judah before the advent and death of our 
Saviour, and more figuratively ^ or spiritually^ since that event, in 
reference to professing Christendom. 

In Daniel xi. 22, we see that the Prince of the Covenant was to 
be broken by the power which should then have sway. Christ was 
the Prince of the Covenant, and we know that He was slain 
under the Roman power. Hence we learn, that the vile person, or 
power, to whom they should not give the honor of the kingdom, 
but who was to come in peaceably by falsehoods, was the Roman 



^^ PROPHECIES IN DANIEL. 

nation. By starting from this point, as a landmark, we can easily, 
I think, trace backward the events to the beginning. The power 
in Judah, before the Roman, was the Maccabean, and this, I 
believe, is what is meant by the ^^ raiser of taxeSj in the glory of 
the kingdom. Before the Maccabees, was Antiochus Epiphanes. 
And thus, by the help of Newton on the prophecies, I might easily 
ascend to the commencement, when the rival claims of Syria on the 
north, and of Egypt on the south, after the death of Alexander, 
brought distraction and desolation upon Judah. 

After the crucifixion of the Prince of the Covenant, viz : of the 
Messiah, a league was made between the professing church and 
imperial Rome, in the reign of Constantino. The emperor then was 
permitted to enter peaceably upon the highest offices in the church ; 
to dispose of bishoprics and archbishoprics, and to do that which 
no other emperor before his time had done. 

The most important events, after the union of church and state, 
were the dissensions and violences in the south — that is to say, in 
Africa ; which continued for a long period, and produced much 
bloodshed. They led to the councils and the decrees of Nice and 
Chalcedon, in which the doctrines of the Trinity of the Godhead, 
and the Duality of Christ, were established. 

But the hearts of both church and state were false and mischiev- 
ous : they spoke " lies at one table'^ of communion. 

These dissensions in the south were followed by the irruptions 
of many enemies, more especially into the European provinces of 
Rome. The power of the emperor was destroyed there ; but arms 
stood on the part of the Pope of Rome ; for Pepin and Charlemagne 
erected the Papal kingdom. Chapter xi. from verse 30 to verse 39, 
inclusively, I think, then, sets forth the power and corruptions of 
Papal Rome, which now became the principal, and comparatively 
the sole potentate in the west. 

At verse 40, the prophecy, I believe, returns to consider the 
history of the eastern empire. The king of the south there men- 
tioned, I think, is the Saracens, and they were followed by the 
king of the north, or the Turks. The Turks finally prevail, and 
plant the crescent and the palace of the successors of Mohammed 
in Palestine, on the glorious holy mountain, between the seas of 
the Mediterranean and Galilee, as well as in many other countries. 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 229 

Thus, for the sins of the people, we see both the east and the 
west overrun by false prophets, and by death and hell ; for God 
is no respecter of persons. But, at the appointed time, the Lord 
Jesus Christ, by His second advent, in spirit, brings deliverance ; 
a time of great and fearful trouble prevails ; yet all who do right- 
eousness enjoy the peaceful and happy rewards of their own deeds. 

I do not say, for certain, that I have obtained the correct fillings 
up or application of all the parts of this important prophecy. I 
submit it to the better judgment and learning of my readers. There 
can be no doubt, however, that we are now on the very eve of " that 
time'^ when Michael, the great Prince, shall stand up, and bring 
salvation to Judah. 



CHAPTER XII 



REVELATION TO ST- JOHN, 



That the book of Revelation is highly metaphorical, is admitted ; 
yet, when we attempt to explain it, in a metaphorical sense, it is 
objected that we are figurative. 

In what other than d^ figurative meaning, can we understand the 
figures which, most undoubtedly, are employed by the Holy Spirit 
in revealing this history of the world and of the churches ? I shall, 
therefore, interpret the book metaphorically, as exhibiting spiritual 
things by types and figures ; but, to this, I pledge myself that I shall 
not draw on my fancy for the constructions which I offer, but will 
appeal to facts and argument. A person, who has not heretofore 
taken this view of the Revelation, will, if candid and unprejudiced, 
be astonished to find how plain, and free from all mystery, this 
hitherto sealed book becomes. 

The second and third chapters, which relate to the seven churches 
there mentioned, and which, so far as those identical churches were 
concerned, have, in all probability, had their fulfilment, I shall pass 
over, simply stating that, not impossibly, the seven conditions of 
those churches were, also, typical and prophetic of seven spiritual 



230 REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

and successive conditions of the Gentile churches, terminating, 
finally, in the apostacy of Laodicea, or a state of death and hell. 
But as I do not know enough of church history to say, with cer- 
tainty, whether this be so or not, I merely suggest the supposition, 
leaving it for others, who are better informed, to compare the facts 
with the revelation, to say how far the analogy holds. 

John saw four and twenty elders, and four beasts. The elders, 
I do not doubt, are typical of believing Jews, and the four beasts, 
of believing Gentiles ; so that the elders and beasts, jointly, repre- 
sent believing Jews and Gentiles, or the natural and the engrafted 
olives. For read 1 Chron. xxiv. 1-19, and Heb. chapter xi. verses 
2, 39, 40, and you will perceive that the twenty-four seats, on which 
the elders sat, are representative of the twenty-four divisions of the 
sons of Aaron, who were engaged in the service of the house of the 
Lord. And from the type of the sheet, knit at the corners, and let 
down to the earth to Peter, filled with beasts and other unclean 
things, indicative of the calling of the Gentiles,* I understand that 
the four beasts seen by John, denote this class of people. The very 
great resemblance of many figures and visions seen by John and 
Ezekiel, which must strike you, upon comparing the two books, 
inclines me to the opinion that the heaven into which John was 
admitted, was the temple or the house of God, into which, also, 
Ezekiel was brought in a vision.t If so, then the " sea'^t in Reve- 
lation may mean the «' molten sea ;"§ and the earth, in Rev. x. 2, 
upon which the angel set his foot, may express the altar for sacri- 
fices. Among the ornaments of Solomon's temple were lions, oxen,. 
cherubim, &c. But this does not prevent that the opinion may 
still be correct, that these images or likenesses were figures of the 
Gentiles who should enter, through grace, into the spiritual heaven. 
Neither is it all improbable that the four beasts seen by John, may 
be typical of four successive conditions of the true Christian church 
on earth, viz : firstly ^ the apostolic age ; secondly^ the age now to 
arise ; thirdly, that which is described in Revelation xix. 7-21 ; 
ondi^ fourthly, the last condition of the holy people, when the saints 
shall finally inherit and retain the earth. For although these con- 
ditions are relatively to each other, four successive conditions, yet 
all the members of Christ are only one body, in the same manner as 
all the members of Anti-Christ are only one body. We know that 

* Acts X. 1148. t Ezck. viii. 3. % Rev. x. 2. § 1 Kings rii. 23. 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 231 

the seven heads of the beast, Blasphemy, stand for mountains or 
kingdoms, of which jive had already fallen, one was then in exist- 
ence, and the seventh had not then come ; although successive, in 
regard to each other, they were still represented together, as co- 
members of the one body of sin. Therefore, I think it probable that 
the four sanctified beasts, seen by John, together with the elders,, 
full of eyes of faith and watchfulness, may be typical of successive 
states of the true church, or the saints of Christ, extending through 
the whole period of time, from the first advent of our Lord in the 
body, to the final and permanent triumph of His kingdom. 

However these particular points are not necessarily connected 
with prophetic parts of the Revelation ; I speak of them only as con- 
jectures or probabilities,* for the purpose of inviting a future and 
more careful examination of them. Think of them as you please, 
or dismiss them altogether from your mind at present. 

John was directed to write the things which he had seen, the 
things which then were, and the things which should be there- 
after.! From which I infer that the Revelation to John, includes the 
history of events from the day of Christ, till the final conclusion of 
our Lord's warfare on earth, when He shall have conquered every 
thing to Himself. 

I come now to Chap. vi. The white horse most unquestionably, 
represents the conquests of the true church of Christ, in the power 
of its apostolic purity. The red horse is a type of the condition of the 
blood, violence, and war in the church, which succeded the Apostolic. 
During this period, the ostensible saints became wedded to imperial 
Rome ; and their faith was settled by the decrees of Nice and Chal- 
cedon, which corrupted the Godhead into three persons, and the 
soul of Christ, into two natures. The black horse expresses the 
subsequent dark ages, when the Catholic church was united to 
Gothism under Pepin and Charlemagne ; the Pope then became a 

* But, why, I may be asked, do you speak of conjectures or probabilities at all. Why 
not speak with absolute certainty 1 We do not wish to conjecture, but to know I 

You might as well say, that you wish no remote horizon nor distant hills or scenery in 
physical nature ; nothing but the ground on which you actually tread. 

Conjectures, not taken for granted, but reasoned up to by free inquiry, are the pioneers 
of true knowledge. The horizon recedes, as you approach it ; the mist, becomes clear. 

Besides, it is not the absoluteness of an assertion, which makes certainty, but the abso- 
luteness of the proof. I may say of many things, I know them to be so ; yet they would 
not be more certain, than if I said, I believe them. 

t Rev. i. 19. 



232 fiEVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

high and ruling prince. They sold the bread and wine of salvation; 
for money ; but had no power to hurt the oil and wine, namely the 
true disciples of Christ, who must always have known Rome for 
Anti-Christ. Then at the time of the reformation, came the pale 
horse, with death and hell ; for the reformation, which was begun 
in a spirit of free inquiry, terminated in dictation and submission to 
authority. The councils of Nice and Chalcedon still triumph in 
protestantism ; the wound of the beast, which seemed to be to death, 
was healed : in this condition of death and hell, the churches yet 
are. All their faith and practice are wrong. They do not know 
God, nor do they know the nature either of hell, or of the resurrec- 
tion : but they have rejected and slain Christ, and have taken a 
Barabbas to their bosoms, instead of the Messiah. 

At the opening of the fifth seal, John saw under the altar the 
souls of them, that were slain for the word of God, and for the testi- 
mony which they held ;* in other words, the attention of John was 
directed to the true church, which still survived to that day although 
she had fled to the wilderness. Christ is our altar ; the faithful, 
are dead or slain to sin, through the word of God and the testimony 
which they hold, and their lives are hid under Christ, our altar, in 
God.t There may be an allusion to this doctrine, in the Mosaic 
law, which directed that the blood of the bullock should be poured 
" beside the bottom of the altar, ^^X that it might be hid under the 
altar. The wrongs done to these righteous and elect persons, by 
those who dwell in sin, cry to God, day and night ; but their suffer- 
ings are made to redound to their glory, and it was said to them 
that they should rest for a little season, until their fellow servants 
and brethren, that should be slain to sin, as they were, should be 
fulfilled. The meaning of this, as I conceive, is, that before the 
second advent, in spirit of the Lord, to judge the earth, there was to 
be an entire apostacy of the church: the man of sin, was actually 
to accomplish His purpose, and destroy the holy people, viz : the 
iniquities of the Gentiles, were to come to the full. The spiritual 
body of Christ, that is to say, His church, was to be put to death, 
and death and hell to be complete, before the spiritual resurrection 
was to take place, and the great day of the wi'ath of the Lamb to 

* Those who keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ, 
are dead or slain to sin, and their lives are hid with Christ in God. This metaphorical 
style of speaking, is common in the Scriptures. 

t Col. iii. 3 ', Heb. xiii. 10. % Exod. xxix. 12. 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 233 

be manifested.* From the fact that John saw the souls of the 
faithful, whose hves were hid in Christ, at the opening of the fifth 
seal, which was after the entrance of death on the pale horse, I have 
no doubt, that, at the commencement of the reformation, there were 
still surviving true disciples of God ; but I infer from the whole con- 
text that the church soon after perished, by the individuals dying, 
and the new generation falling in with and adopting the reformed 
communion. It w^as a stumbling block in the way, and deceived 
men. 

After this, John saw when the sixth seal was opened, and there 
was a great earthquake, foretelling the great convulsions, agita- 
tions and revolutions, which should occur in the great day of 
the Lord, when the true gospel should be preached, and the stars of 
the churches, instead of being acknowledged as lights of heaven, 
should fall as lucifer, hke lightning to earth, and every mountain 
and island of pride and unrighteousness, should be moved out of 
their places. These are the commotions which attend the second 
advent in spirit of our Lord : this second adv^ent is now come ; 

WE ARE NOW UNDER THE BEGINNING OF THE OPENING OF THIS SEAL. 

Chapter vii. describes the gathering of the spiritual Israel ; for all 
are the children of Abraham, who have the faith of Abraham. 

After this prosperous condition of the church, another corruption 
begins greatly to grow and enlarge itself; the seven angels with 
seven trumpets, indicate the plagues, which the Lord pours out upon 
mankind for their degeneracy. Concerning the form in which these 
plagues will appear, to the eyes of men, I can say nothing : no 
doubt, the mass of mankind will be deceived by them ; they will 
come unawares, as a thief at night. I can say only, " watch and 
pray ; " for then whoever is alive at that day, will escape the evil. 
I presume that the locusts mentioned in chap. ix. 7, are a figure 

* Some persons allege, that the church was never to be fully destroyed. Certainly in 
one sense,' it is never to be destroyed ; for it shall arise and conquer all its enemies. The 
people made a similar objection to Christ, when He signified what death He should die, 
(John xii. 34.) — " we have heard, out of the law, that Christ abideth for ever : and how 
sayest thou, that the Son of Man must be lifted up 1 Who is this Son of Man V* The Lord 
said to Elijah, "yet have I left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not 
bowed unto Baal, and every mouth which hath not kissed him," (1 Kings xix. IS;) and be- 
cause it was a matter of fact, that this number of righteous were then living, it is thought 
that a no less number must always be living ; but this is no argument. The question is, 
what says the prophecy, and what says history 1 If an interpretation does not agree with 
both, it cannot be true. Be not hasty to form your judgment, until you have well consider- 
ed all the proofs. 

30 



234 REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

for the seventh kingdom, foretold in chap. xvii. 10 ; but this ts only 
conjecture : possibly that seventh kingdom may not arise until chap, 
ix. 16, or perhaps chap. xx. 3-8 : for I repeat, as regards the visible 
or outward forms of these future events, I know and can say nothing. 
Only it is apparent that the churches again apostatize into a state 
of death and hell, analogous to that which now exists. 

Read Ezekiel, chapters ii. and iii., and chapter xii. 22-28, and com- 
pare what is there said, with Revelation, chap, x., and you will per- 
ceive the meaning of the Httle book, and will also understand the 
phrase, " there should he time no longer ;" this expression conveys 
the assurance that the Lord would perform His word on the rebel- 
lious people, and that the time should be no more prolonged or 
delayed. 

The two Avitnesses, are the two olive trees, viz : the Jews and 
Gentiles.* They cease to be received by men, as the true church, 
but are fled to the wilderness ; for Anti-Christ has again erected his 
throne in the world. At length the true church is killed out of the 
way, and the dead carcass of Christianity lies in the street of spir- 
itual Sodom and Egypt : for death and hell are triumphant. But 
in due season, comes another resurrection of the churches, or of the 
body of Christ ; the saints enter heaven, but the wicked are over- 
thrown ; for there is another earthquake, or great day of the wrath 
of God. 

REV. XII. 

From an attention to the whole context, w^hich is absolutely 
necessary to enable us to determine the meaning of any writing, it 
is quite clear to me that at Revelation, chap, xii., a duplicate series 
of types begins, covering the same events, which were already 
communicated under the first series which began at chap. vi. That 
duplicate types are sometimes given in the Scriptures, to indicate 
the same things, is undeniable : for Pharaoh's visions or dreams 
were in tw^o sets, yet the interpretation was one ;t our Saviour, in 
several places, repeats various parables to convey the same instruc- 
tion. But, in all cases, to know whether the types are of separate 
and distinct, or of the same interpretation, we must pay close 

* Read Zech. iv. 11-14, Rom. xi. 24, John i. 7, and Acts ir. 33, and I think you will 
then have no hesitation about what is meant by the two witnesses. " 

t Gen. xii. 25. 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 235 

attention to all the particulars and the context ; for we cannot doubt, 
that the Lord has spoken in such a way, that His intention may be 
comprehended. 

The wonder or mystery in heaven, was the Jewish church, 
with her festivals and sacrifices, revolving with the sun and moon, 
and upon her head the crown of the twelve tribes ; she was preg- 
nant with the promise of the Lord Jesus. Another wonder was, 
that the Herodian, or Roman power in Jerusalem, signified by the 
great red dragon, corrupted by worldly philosophy and pride, and by 
deadly heresies and traditions, represented by the seven heads of 
Canaan, and tlie ten tribes or horns, which were dismembered from 
Judah, by reason of the idolatries of Solomon and the people, stood 
ready to devour the child Jesus, as soon as He was born. Christ 
was born ; who is, in truth, to rule all nations with a rod of strength 
and righteousness ; but He was rejected, and crucified, and caught 
up to God to heaven, Avhere He sitteth at the right hand of the 
throne. Afflictions afterwards came upon Jerusalem, and the sedi- 
tious rebelled against Rome ; but the disciples of Christ, called the 
woman, {for they were now the church,) fled to the wilderness ; 
during the three and a half years war, they were preserved. The 
war raged in Judah ; the providences of God fought against the 
wickedness of His former people ; Jerusalem was destroyed, and the 
Jews were cast out and scattered. All the members of Anti-Christ, 
however, are only one body, or different hmbs of one dragon ; the 
persecutions of the Christians did not end with the destruction of 
Jerusalem, but the dragon continued his injustice and wrongs 
against the spiritual Israel, who were the real descendants of Abra- 
ham, in the Scriptural sense ; that is to say, according to the faith 
of Abraham ; and who, therefore, were a continuance of the 
spiritual Moses and Aaron. The church was driven to the wilder- 
ness, and is nourished there for a time, and times, and half a time, 
from the face of the serpent ; at the end of w^hich period, I judge 
from other parts of the Revelation, she ceased to exist, or was 
destroyed by the serpent.* Even if we could precisely ascertain 

* The time, times, and half a time, according to what I have seen in commentators, 
on this particular form of speech, may mean 1260 years. For a time, (in the singu- 
lar,) may mean one year or 360 days, as in the Jewish style of reckoning them ; times, 
(in the plural,) two years or 720 days ; and half a time, the half of a year or 180 days — 
making altogether 1260 days ; each day for a year. Had the times, (in the plural,) meant 
more than two, it may be thought that the Revelation would have said three times , or 



236 REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

the duration of the period, indicated by the phrase, " a time, and 
times, and half a time^'^ we should still need to fix the commence- 
ment of it, before we could speak of its end. Forming my opinion 
from all the context, I should say for certain, that the flight of the 
church to the wilderness, as told in this particular passage, (Rev. 
xii. I4j) does not begin until long after the destruction of Jerusalem, 
and the endurance of many persecutions subsequent to the fall of that 
city. For by the wilderness, in this passage, I understand a state of 
humiliation, contempt, and persecution, experienced by the true 
church not only from heathens, but^ also from Anti-Christian 
bishops, clergy, and people, professing the name of Christ : since, 
had it not been so, then at the supposed conversion of Constantine, 
the church would have returned from the wilderness. But revela- 
tion and history both contradict the idea of such a deliverance. The 
time, times, and a half time, I think, therefore, are computed from 
some date anterior to Constantine, when, as appears from the 
memorials which have come down ,to us, the great mass of the pro- 
fessing Christians were members of Anti-Christ, and had driven the 
woman to obscurity. It is thought, by some, that the sixteenth 
verse of this chapter, (chap, xii.,) represents the conversion of the 
Goths and Vandals ; but I am far from believing so. Clovis and his 
Franks, and the other barbarians who were converted to the wooden 
cross, knew nothing of the cross of Christ, nor of His character : 
their conversion made them only more dragons than they were 
before. The earth always swallows up the wicked; that is, 
WICKEDNESS always, by an invariable law of nature, imposed by the 
Almighty Himself, recoils on the wicked : the earth, figuratively, 
opens her mouth and swallows them up, and their houses, and all 
the people that appertain to them, and all their goods. Read 
Numbers xvi. 32, and Luke xxi. 17-19, and you will understand 
better what is meant, spiritually, by the earth helping the woman. 
It was not such help as came from Clovis, Pepin, or Charlemagne ; 
nor from Constantine, long before their day. 

After that general corruption, which began before Constantine, 
but raged more widely and deeply as time advanced, taking peace 
from the earth, in due season came up the empire of darkness. The 

four timeSi and not simply times : for times, in the plural, cannot mean less than two. 
But this question I leave t© others to decide. I judge of the events, not by the day and 
hour, but by the nature and demonstrable character of the condition of things. 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 237 

church was sent into the world to destroy the world, or the ^ins 
thereof, and convert the whole earth to Christ, as the Jews, under 
Moses and Joshua, had been sent to Canaan to destroy the Canaan- 
ites, and to take possession of the promised land ; but as Judah did 
not keep the commandments of God, but engrafted upon her 
rehgion the idols and abominations of the seven Canaanitish nations, 
and the evil practices of the ten tribes, neither did the great mass 
of the professing church of Christ keep the commandments of God 
and the testimony of Jesus : but they adopted the philosophies and 
doctrines of the seven great kingdoms or monarchies of the earth,* 
and became dismembered and broken into sects and parties. This 
is typified by the beast with seven heads and ten horns, and upon 
his heads the name of Blasphemy. Refer to what is said in Ezekiel 
chap, xxiii., concerning the tioo tvomen, Aholah and Aholibah ; by 
this also you will understand what is said in Zach. v. 9, of the 
" two women, ^ with the wind of false doctrine in their wings, lifting 
up and bearing the Ephah of wickedness to Babylon in the land of 
Shinar. 

At the reformation, one of the heads, (the Roman head,) of the 
beast, was wounded, as it were, to death ; but his deadly wound 
was healed, and all the world wondered, after the beast. However, 
although the deadly wound of the beast was healed, yet the form 
of Anti-Christ was changed under the influence of the arts and 
sciences, which accompanied the reformation. For then came up 
another beast, or dragon, in the disguise of a lamb ; he assumed 
and exercised the power of the first beast before him, and caused 
the people to err and stumble. (See Mai. ii. 8.) By this means, he 
prolonged the reign of the first beast. This new form of Anti- 
Christ does great wonders, and makes, apparently, the fire of con- 
version, come down from heaven in the sight of men. He deceives 
the world by the profession and outward garb of righteousness. 
But his doctrines are really an image or likeness of the beast 

*In the beast, all the parts are considered as co-members of one beast, although they 
come upon the stage of action successively. This is entirely certain, from what is said by 
the angel in Rev. xvii. 10. As I have elsewhere said, all the members of Christ are only 
one body, and thus also, it appears that all the members of Anti-Christ are only one body. 
And very properly ; because old idolatries and philosophies still live in the present gene- 
ration, and give a character to our blasphemy. If we exhibit a history of the earth, during 
all its time of wickedness, by a prophetic vision, we may unite the parts together, under 
a figure, so as to show what its completed form will be. For nations and ages have a con- 
nexion. 



238 REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

which had been wounded, and did live : for his house is not built 
on the foundation of Christ and the apostles, but on the Anti- 
Christian decrees of Nice and Chalcedon. And he has power to 
give life to this image or likeness of the beast, and causes all to 
receive the mark, or doctrines and practice of the beast, or his 
name of Blasphemy, or the number or supposed wealth of his 
name. For this state of Anti-Christ, is like Laodicea ; it thinks 
itself rich and increased in goods, and having need of nothing : it 
says, I am wiser than Daniel, and richer than Solomon. " Now 
the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year, was six hun- 
dred, three score and six talents of gold." (1 Kings, X. 14.) This 
is the number or the supposed wealth of the beast. He exceeds all 
other ages in imaginary righteousness, yet he is " a man, and not 
God," and is wretched and miserable, and poor, and blind, and 
naked. In connexion with this part of Revelation, read Isaiah ii. 6-9, 
a;nd Ezekiel, chapter xxviii. This condition of the churches being 
founded on the wealth and doctrines of man, and not on the riches 
of God, not one of its stones shall be left on another, that shall 
not be thrown down. Now comes the resurrection of the Lamb, 
viz : the restoration of the true church, or the second advent, in 
spirit, of our Lord. He stands on Mount Sion, with 144,000 of the 
tribes of Israel, having his father's name written on their foreheads, 
that is to say, sealed with the righteousness of the living God. 
Compare this with Revelation vii. 4 ; also with Romans xi. 25-27. 
This is the gathering of the spiritual Israel, or the successful fruits 
of the preaching of the gospel. The earth was reaped, denoting 
the great changes and revolutions, which the affairs of the world 
underwent. But then begins another period of decline. The 
seven vials are synonymous with the plagues of the seven trumpets, 
as you will see by comparing them side by side. 

THE SEVEJf TRUMPETS, THE SEVEN VIALS, 

(under the first series of types.) (under the second series of types.) 

1. Hail and fire, mingled with 1. The first vial is poured upon 
blood, follow the sound of the first the earthy and there fell a noisome 
trumpet ; and they were cast upon and grievous sore, upon the men 
the earthy and all green grass was which had the mark of the beast, 
burnt up. and upon them which worshipped 

his image. 

2. A great mountain burning with 2. The second vial is poured upon 
fire, is cast into the sea, and the third the sea, and it becomes as the blood 
part of the sea becomes bloody and of a dead man, and every living 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 



239 



the third part of the creatures, 
which were in the sea, and had life, 
died, &c., (viz : every living soul 
in the blood died.) 

3. There fell a great star from 
heaven, burning as it were a lamp, 
and it fell upon the third part of 
the rivers and fountains of loaters ; 
the name of the star, is wormwood. 
( See Deut. xxix. IS, and Amos v. 
7.) Many die. 

4. The third part of the sun is 
smitten, and the third part of the 
moon and stars. Darkness follows. 

5. The bottomless pit is opened ; 
the sun and air are darkened. Men 
are tormented. (They seek death 
to sin, and life to holiness, but they 
do not find it, because they ask 
amiss. They do not repent, with 
a repentance not to be repented of. ) 



6. The four angels which are 
bound in the great river Euphrates^ 
are loosed. 



7. The seventh angel sounded, 
('Rev. xi. 15,) and there were cfreat 
voices in heaven^ saying, the king- 
doms of this world, are become the 
kingdoms of our Lord and His Christy 
and He shall reign forever and 
ever. 



soul died in the sea, (viz : every 
living soul in the blood died.) 



3. The third vial is poured upon 
the rivers and fountains of waters, 
and they become blood. Men shed 
blood, and they drink blood, and 
God is righteous in judging them. 
They die spiritually. 

4. The fourth vial is poured up- 
on the sun; men are scorched with 
heat, and blaspheme ; but do not 
repent. 

5. The fifth vial is poured upon 
the seat of the beast, (viz : the 
bottomless pit.) His kingdom is 
darkened. They gnaw their 
tongues for pain, and blaspheme 
and repent not. 



6. The water of the river Eu- 
phrates, is dried up, that the way 
of the kings of the east might be 
prepared. 

7. The seventh vial is poured 
into the air, and there was a great 
voice out of the temple of heaven, 
from the throne, saying it is done. 



By saying it is done, the prophet means that the mystery*of God 
is finished ; the fulness of the iniquities of the Gentiles is arrived ; 
the church, or the body of Christ ascends again, in spirit, from the 
grave, and the great day of the wrath of the Lamb, is come. That 
day of wrath is accompanied by its revolutions, convulsions, and 
new ecclesiastical, civil, political, and social conditions, in the place 
of the old things, which were removed. In the description of these 
agitations, and moral and spiritual earthquakes, the two series of 
types which I have been speaking of, unite together ; after that the 
Revelation of John appears to me, to be conveyed in one series only. 
That the two series terminate or unite in the description of these 



240 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 



agitations and earthquakes, as I have just mentioned, you will see 
by comparing them, as follows : 



Revelation xi., 18, 19. 
" And the nations were angry, 
and thy ivrath is come, and the time 
of the deadj (dead in trespasses 
and sins,) that they should be judg- 
ed, and that thou shouldst give re- 
ward unto thy servants, the proph- 
ets, and to the saints, and them that 
fear thy name, small and great, and 
shouldst destroy them which destroy 
the earth. And the temple of God 
was opened in heaven, and there 
was seen in his temple, the ark of 
his testament : and there were 
lightnings^ and voices, and thunder- 
ing s, and an earthquake, and great 
haiV 



Revelation xvi., 18-21. 
" And there were voices, and 
thunders and lightnings^ and there 
was a great earthquake, such as was 
not since men were upon the earth, 
so mighty an earthquake and so 
great. And the great city was 
divided into three parts ; and the 
cities of the nations fell : and great 
Babylon came in remembrance be- 
fore God, to give unto her the cup of 
the wine of the fierceness of his 
wrath. And every island fled away, 
and the mountains were not' found. 
And there fell upon men, a great 
hail out of heaven, every stone 
about the weight of a talent : and 
men blasphemed God, because of 
the plague of the hail; for the 
plague thereof was exceeding great.'^^ 



EEV. XVII. 

The two series of prophecies, covering as before stated, the same 
events, having now, as just above expressed, been brought together, 
or united at a single terminating point, there is at Rev. xvii., a 
pause or delay in the narration of events, in order that the angel 
may explain to John, and give him a right judgment or understand- 
ing of the woman on the beast. Ezekiel, also in his vision, was 
made tg understand the abominations and blood of Judah. (Ezek. 
viii. and ix.) 

The beast was and is not ; this phrase is applied to wickedness, 
and denotes that, however it may seem to prosper for a time, its 
end is destruction. Ps. xxxvii. 35, 36. But in Rev. xvii. 8, the 
angel says, " the beast that was and is not, and yet z5." This 
expression is immediately afterwards explained by the angel himself. 
For he says, «' the seven heads are seven mountains, on which the 
woman sitteth. And there are seven kings— j^?;e are fallen, and 
one IS, and the other is not yet come." These mountains, I con- 
ceive, are seven great monarchies or kingdoms of the world, typified 
by the seven nations in Canaan, which the Jews were to destroy ; 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 241 

but whose idolatries they adopted. Five of them were fallen, viz : 
they were ; of another, the angel says, it is not ; but the sixth, 
yet is. These monarchies I do not question, are the Egyptian 
Assyrian, (Isai. lii. 4.,) Babylonian, Persian, and Grecian, which 
were the five that were fallen, at the time of John ; and the Roman, 
which yet is, (it existed politically in the day of John, and yet is, in 
many of its arrangements:) the seventh, is not yet come; "and 
when he cometh, he must continue a short space." (This short 
space may be only comparatively short ; to men, it may appear long.) 
The beast was not one of the seven kingdoms ; for the seven king- 
doms were only the seven heads or mountains on which the woman 
sits. The beast itself, its huge and deformed body, represents a spir- 
itual dynasty, empire, or kingdom of sin and blasphemy, called the 
eighth kingdom, and composed of the idolatries and abominations of 
all the seven heads, whose end is perdition. When I speak of the five 
monarchies, which were fallen, I do not intend to say, that there 
had been no other great monarchy in existence on the earth, before 
them ; for I do not know whether there was or not. But those 
monarchies, beginning with Egypt, were the only great empires 
which exercised an influence upon the Jews : for Israel was not 
known as a people, until they grew up in Egypt. It is only so far 
as the nations had an influence on the chosen people, that they are 
important in the prophecy. The ten tribes, after their dismember- 
ment, had an immense effect on Judah ; for they hated her, and 
made her desolate and naked ; and were very greatly instrumental 
in preparing her captivity under Babylon. (2 Chron. xxviii. 6-19.) 

You are to take notice, that notwithstanding the wars which the 
members of Anti-Christy or of the beast continually wage with each 
other, they are still members of one body. For wickedness is an 
insane man, who bites and devours his own limbs. Only the body 
of Christ, represents a man in his right mind ; all whose limbs and 
actions are in harmony, and peace, and joyfulness. 

At Rev. xviii., the Prophet again resumes his narration of events. 
He had left off at the spiritual convulsions, and the resurrection of 
the true church or body of Christ ; he now resumes his historic 
vision of the spread of the conquests of the white horse, and the 
Lord Jesus ; and the effects of God's judgments upon the false 
woman. Babylon is fallen, when the truth is known concerning 
her, and her foundations and gates are undermined ; but continually 
31 



242 REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

she falls and perishes more and more : she falls, by what may be 
called natural causes ; their operations, although in instances and 
to a certain extent, sudden, are also gradual. Babylon fell, when 
the Persians and Medes entered suddenly and captured her; yet 
many generations passed before she became utterly extinct. The 
xviii. and xix. chapters of Revelation, represent the powerful 
results which attend the preaching of the restored gospel of the 
Lamb. 

But, after this prosperous and very glorious spread of true Christ- 
ianity, we perceive that another decline or apostacy commences. 
Satan, however, or the old serpent, which is the devil, is bound in 
chains of darkness, in the pit of an evil heart, for a thousand years, 
and a seal or mark put upon him, that he should deceive the nations 
no more, as death and hell, till the thousand years should be ful- 
filled ; after that he must be loosed a little season. Perhaps the 
kingdom of wickedness then to be formed, is the seventh kingdom 
mentioned in Revelations, xvii. 10, which was to continue a short 
space. The thrones in Revelations, xx. 4, are thrones of righteous- 
ness and correct judgment. The souls which reigned with Christ 
for the thousand years, are the true church, who are beheaded or 
slain to sin, by the witness or testimony of Jesus. These were dead 
to sin ; but the rest of the dead, who were dead in sin, or satan, did 
not, as already stated, establish their empire as death and hell, until 
the thousand years were finished ; then, for a short season, they 
were to be loosed, as before told. *' This is the first resurrection.^^ 
It will be seen that I do not apply this expression to the words in the 
same verse, concerning the rest of the dead, who lived not again 
until the thousand years were finished ; but to the condition of the 
righteous who were arisen from the death of sin, and who reigned 
with Christ a thousand years, as described in the fourth verse. For 
that which is said of the rest of the dead, not living again until the 
thousand years were over, I conceive is spoken parenthetically ; 
the words, " this is the first resurrection," are connected, in sense, 
with the holy people, in verse four, who had experienced the power 
of the resurrection of the Lord, as it was at first^ and alxoays is 
experienced by the righteous. (Rom. vi. 1-12 ; Col. iii. 1-3.) For 
there are two kinds of resurrection : first, the resurrection of lifcj 
when men hear the voice of Christ, and do good ; and, second, the 
resurrection of damnationy where men hear the voice of God, and 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 243 

do evil, (John v. 28, 29.) The resurrection of damnation is also 
called the second death, viz. *^ without fruit, twice dead. (Jude 12.) 
At the expiration of the thousand years, death and hell again erect 
their empire. (See what is said of Gog and Magog, in Ezekiel xxxviii. 
and xxxix.) But again, there is a resurrection from the dead ; 
old things pass away, and a new heaven and a new earth are cre- 
ated in holiness. Gradually, and, I presume, under the operation 
of natural causes, the kingdom of Christ is enlarged, until, finally, 
there is no temple whatever to the sun* nor moon, viz : no idolatry ; 
but all nations delight to walk in the light of Christ, and there is 
no more curse or sin ; but the whole globe of our earth is saved, and 
the saints inherit it, for ever and ever in unbroken and unending 
day : they see God, face to face, and His name is written on the 
foreheads of all. 

What is said in Revelations xxii. 11, about the unjust being 
unjust still, does not relate in time to the final consummation of 
the warfare of Christ, but to the time when the Revelation was made 
to John. We have similar expressions in Ezekiel, chap. ii. and iii. 
2-11. John was to declare the prophecy of the book; he was to 
speak the words of the Lord, whether men would hear, or whether 
they would forbear. 

The reader will perceive that, as regards days and hours, I have 
not pretended to say any thing, with certainty, and that, as regards 
all future events, I have spoken rather conjecturally, than with posi- 
tiveness. Even the apostles, although they foretold future events, 
had very obscure and indefinite ideas concerning them. We are 
apt to consider our own age of the world as more important than 
all others, and to concentrate the prophecies, if not upon our own 
persons, at least upon our own generation. But the world, I con- 
ceive, has many thousands of centuries yet to survive, and I doubt 
not, as it becomes older, it will become more astonishing in its actions. 
I confess my entire ignorance of the times, or the forms of future 
events ; although I have no question that, metaphorically, the great 
dividing ranges of them are foretold in the book of Revelation. 

But as regards the past, I say, with absolute certainty, that the 
apostolic age of the church was robed in white, and the spirit of the 
Lord Jesus went forth, conquering and to conquer. After that, fol- 
lowed an age of blood, and the contentions of the ostensible church 

* Ezek. viii. 16. 



244 REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 

took place from the earth. I state, with positiveness, that the 
decrees of the councils of Nice and Chalcedon, concerning the 
Trinity of persons in the Godhead, and the Duality of souls in Christ, 
were and are opposed to, and in contradiction of the Bible. The 
red, or blood-stained condition of the church, was succeeded by the 
plague of darkness or blackness, which continued about one thou- 
sand years, until the revival of learning, and the reformation; 
when death and hell erected their empire, and yet have their sway 
in the churches. Whatever may have been the condition of the 
true church, before that time, yet, after the reformation the world 
was deceived by the wonders done by the reformers, who, as Gog 
-and Magog, came upon an unsuspecting people, and death reigns in 
every temple. Also, I aver, with confidence, that this existing con- 
dition of the world is now to pass away, with great and moral 
earthquakes or changes ; for the day of the wrath of the Lamb is 
come, and the axe will be put to the roots of evil. 

But let no one be governed by my authority, nor by the authority 
of any man. Search the Scriptures, and see and judge for your- 
selves. Two things are necessary, in order that we may exert our- 
selves to the best advantage : first, each individual must act for 
himself, singly ; for at present, one adventurer takes the lead, and 
the rest follow, with zeal, but with blindness. This is folly. Think, 
judge, and determine for yourself. But no man can live or die only 
for himself; nature has intended us to act in society. And, there- 
fore, secondly, we should, as righteous Israel, all be ranged in a 
collected order, harmonious, and with a united will and energy. 
The right knowledge, however, can never exist, unless each person 
looks within himself, and begins there, by free and candid inquiry 
and judgment. 

What is the reason that free inquiry in mathematical questions, 
produces certainty and union 1 You may answer, it is because 
mathematical truths are founded on demonstrable evidence. But 
all truths have their proper and sufficient evidence. If a number of 
men have a controversy, concerning the furniture that is in any 
particular room, and if they have never been in the room, but speak 
of the furniture from hearsay, they may differ in their opinions : if 
their hearsay has reached them through fifty or a hundred witnesses, 
who in their turn, successively received their opinions only from 
kearsay, there is no probabihty that the remote receivers of such 



REVELATION TO ST. JOHN. 245 

vague rumors caa agree. But let these men enter the room, and 
see, think, and judge for themselves ; instantly, they become of one 
opinion. Not so, you may object : for although by entering within 
the room, they may know with certainty, how many tables, &c. 
are there, and the forms of them, yet they may afterwards differ and 
quarrel about the materials of which they are made, the times when 
they were placed there, or the uses for which they are intended ; 
and many other, the like difficulties. I reply, that they may always 
differ, unless they continue their researches, in a spirit of true 
inquiry. But should they freely inquire of the difficulties which 
you have suggested, viz : of the material, the time, and the use, by 
applying to the right sources and tests of knowledge, as regards 
these points, they would then attain unanimity about them, as well 
as they did concerning the other causes of contention. We must 
learn to keep our minds suspended, until we are prepared to act 
on the right testimony ; the pride of seizing at once upon systems, 
and leading our fellow men, must be done away. 

Always there will be an infinity of things, which a finite mind, 
cannot, at any present time, comprehend. Forever there will be, as 
said by a distinguished authoress, an outer circle of darkness, bound- 
ing our circle of light ; as you enlarge the light, the darkness is 
thrown farther offi Free inquiry enlarges our light and dispels the 
darkness more and more. But an uninquiring submission to author- 
ity, has directly the reverse effect ; it contracts and diminishes the 
light, and brings the darkness nearer and nearer in upon us, until 
the whole mind is filled with night. 

We need no infallible popes, decrees of councils, confessions of 
faith, nor masters, nor prophets, to keep us in one faith ; nothing 
but the Lord Jesus Christ, our Priest, our Prophet, and our King. 
The Lord has constituted us with powers, competent to act and to 
judge in relation to His works and His word ; by free and candid 
reading, observation, and judgment, accompanied with the diligent 
use of all other means, we shall grow and be enlarged in the know- 
ledge and love of God ; yet it is our happiness, to be assured, that 
of the continual increase of these blessings, there can never be an 
end. Forever we may advance towards infinite perfections, and 
each succeeding age of the world, may rise above the generation 
which preceded it upon this stage of action ; but to do this, we must 
call no man master, but Christ. 



246 



CHAPTER XIII. 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 



Knowledge is sincere, only so far as it leads to practice. " Every 
one that loveth, is born of God, and knoweth God."* 

It is customary to say of persons, whose professed knowledge 
does not influence their life, that their knowledge is in their head, 
not their heart. But I do not perceive the correctness of the maxim. 
For if the knowledge were really in their head, and well understood 
and believed, it could no more fail to control their actions, in its 
proper department, than arithmetical knowledge can fail to determine 
our calculations in numbers. The passions and affections are blind ; 
but an enlightened conscience looks through the understanding, into 
the perfect law of liberty, and instructs us by the truth. 

It would be more correct, in my opinion, to remark of individuals, 
whose professions and actions are incongruous, that their seeming 
knowledge is all a fallacy ; and that the way of truth they have 
not known. 

Suppose that a person governed by a vehement passion for acqui- 
sition, were placed in a royal treasury, with rich jewels and abun- 
dance of gold and silver within the power of his hand. But imagine 
that he beholds the all-searching eye of the dread monarch of the 
country, who is the sole owner of this wealth, fixed upon him ; 
and while he knows escape to be impossible, he firmly believes that 
every felon shall encounter eternal loss and infamy. This law of 
justice of his sovereign, he perceives, continually carries with it, 
a self-executing energy and perfection, which spare no offence and 
no transgressor. Conceive, now, that the person knows, and fully 
understands a way, whereby all these accumulations of wealth, 
may honestly become his own and remain with him, with increasing 
;prosperity forever : a path of honesty and righteousness, actually 

* 1 John iir. 7. 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 247 

more pleasing and easy, than the road of transgression. Do you 
not discern, that in such a state of true light, the instinctive thirst 
for gain, can no more entice or impel a man to become dishonest, 
than the rush of mighty waters, can drive a vessel upwards against 
their own force ! 

In mechanics, you may arrange a system of levers, in such a 
manner, that their power may seem to work at a disadvantage. 
Yet if the power, which you apply, be strong enough, you may, 
notwithstanding, move or overcome any resistance by it ; if you be 
sure of force sufficient for your purpose, you may even prefer this 
plan, which others may look upon as ineligible. It may possess 
manifold excellencies, which your wisdom may approve, although 
the inexperience of others may not have discovered them. So no 
matter how eager the desire for inexhaustible riches may be ; no 
matter how ardent may be our love for universal approbation, or our 
thirst for perpetual advancement ; yet if we are placed in a right 
knowledge of the Lord, of His nature, character, and government, 
and of our duty and ultimate destiny in holiness, we shall always 
feel an infinite and eternal power drawing at all the chords of our 
instincts, sentiments, and faculties, and uniting us at each instant, 
more and more closely, in an obedient harmony, with all the laws of 
righteousness. 

Christ says, " whosoever shall give to drink unto one of these 
little ones, a cup of cold water only, in the name of a disciple, verily 
I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward."* An amiable 
disposition, inherited from nature, may induce you freely to impart 
to others from your abundance ; but in the trying time of necessity 
and panic, of famine and pestilence, selfishness would draw around 
the unregenerate heart, the impenetrable folds which separate man 
from his fellow man. Not so, however, would it be with the heart 
made alive by a right knowledge of, and faith in the Lord Jesus : 
for he who sees God to be all in all, and all we to be only co-mem- 
bers, one with another, of the one body of God, in Christ, would 
never, under any circumstances, feel an abatement of the principle,, 
which extends the cup of charity and consolation to a brother in 
need. Such a principle is blessed, because it carries its owu 
blessing with it in all its actions and consequences. 

* Matt. X. 42. 



248 PRACTICAL DUTIES. 

As your most important practical duty, therefore, study to attain 
a right 

KNOWLEDGE OF GOD, 

and be not intimidated nor driven from full and free inquiry, by the 
dread that faith is opposed to reason, or that any of the truths dis- 
covered by the operation of physical laws, can contradict the divine 
testimony in the Scriptures. When physical researches^ properly 
conducted, bear witness ag-ainst the preachings of the clergy, be 
assured that it is the preachings of the clergy, which contradict the 
Bible : for nature and revelation speak with one voice. 

As the means of knowing God, study diligently what the Scrip- 
tures say of 

THE LORD JESUS ; 

for no man can know the Father, except through the Son. Some 
persons may allege, what avails it, to know the mystery of Christ ; 
why trouble ourselves with this vexed point ; let us know righteous- 
ness, and content ourselves with that ! They might as well declare, 
we care nothing for the Scriptures; do not speak tons of Christ at 
all ; but tell us of righteousness, without Christ ! Without Christ, 
we are nothing ; for without Christ, we are without God : he v/ho 
does not know God, as our Father, Lord and Saviour ; who does not 
know that our heavenly Father, is the eternal and infinite Spirit, 
having faculties, sentiments and powers of reason, will and sensi- 
bility, like we have, yet without sin or imperfection ; who rejects the 
truth, that the Lord Himself, is the great exemplar, in whose image 
and hkeness we are made ; such a one may talk of his knowledge 
of God, but all his knowledge is of no more worth, than the cold 
abstractions of Aristotle, the mystic emanations of Plato, or the 
unintelligible and fancied numbers of Pythagoras. 
But not only know God, 

KNOW YOURSELF. 

And that you may know yourself, study your own heart : attend 
to all your thoughts, desires, wishes, hopes, fears, motives, words, 
actions. Assist yourself by books, intended to promote a knowledge 
of self. Read useful memoirs, biographies, and histories. But, 
above all, cease not to read the word of God, in which alone, you 
will find a full and true history of the heart of man. There you will 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 249 

learn, that you and I, and the entire race of Adam, are, in and of 
ourselves 

DEAD IN TRESPASSES AND SINS ; 

being prefigured and typified by the carnal body of Christ, which 
was made of the dust of the earth, and is an emblem of the old man, 
or the^r5^ Adam. You may thus perceive, that the incarnation of 
our Lord, is, indeed, a mystery of great Godliness, and a gospel of 
great glad-tidings and rejoicing ; as it is a living, speaking, and act- 
ing PARABLE, declaring to us, all the truths relating to God and all 
the truths relating to man : and that our Lord, well deserves the 
name Immanuel, or God with us. 

If, however, the dead body of Christ, be a type of our death, 
remember also, that the living body of Christ, is a type of our life in 
God. Cheat not your soul, with the hope of di future resurrection, 
different from that which now the Lord invites you to be a partaker 
of; but instantly 

ARISE FROM THE DEAD, 

and be a new creature, in Christ. For there is no other heaven, 
but the heaven of truth and its fruits ; or a conformity to the divine 
law : neither can God, nor man be happy, without holiness. '' He 
that committeth sin is of the devil,'' and the only way, by which 
you can determine whether you are a child of God, is by your 
designing to do, and by your actually doing the works of Christ, 
as He has set us an example. 

Paul speaks of Timothy, " for I have no man like-minded, who 
will naturally care for your state ; for all seek their own, not the 
things which are Jesus Christ's."* If men in those days deceived 
themselves, will not multitudes do so now 7 Therefore probe every 
part of you ; and ascertain whether or not, there is an idol in your 
heart, which you prefer before the love of God. Christ gave up 
every thing, and yielded Himself a victim and a martyr for His 
people. His apostles and disciples, followed in His footsteps. The 
world, at this day, lies in darkness and in death : oppression and 
misery, slavery, and groans, and tears, fill the land. And do you 
think that you can conscientiously say " Lord,^^ *' Lord,^^ while 
you throw upon others the duty and the privilege of devoting their 
money and their labor, the powers of their mind and the energies of 

* Phil. ii. 20, 21. 

32 



250 PRACTICAL DUTIES. 

of their hearts, nay, the safety of their lives, in stemming popular 
tumults, encountering- popular violence, instructing ignorance, re- 
proving vice, tearing down the strong holds of superstition and of 
Anti-Christ, and ransoming your lost and captive brethren, from 
death and hell ? Whose opinion do you regard, before the esteem 
of God ; whose wrath do you fear, if God be on your side ; what 
wealth or influence have you, which is your own, for your mere 
selfish interest ? If you refuse to take up the cross of God and 
follow Christ, you are yet an alien to the power of the life of your 
Saviour ! Think well of this, for on it rests your immortal stand- 
ing in the universe of God. Be not of those, who foolishly substi- 
tute unfruitful thoughts, and fleeting resolutions of bestirring your- 
self in the cause of righteousness, for actual performance : 
Q^uestions of the utmost moment to you, are, what have you already 
done^ and what are you noio doings as well as what preparations are 
you making to act for the future^ in the great work which the Lord 
Jesus has bequeathed to us ; that of redeeming the earth, through 
faith in His name. 

It is imagined by many persons, that the world, who are destitute 
of faith in the Lord, are proper judges of what should be the char- 
acter and conduct of a real disciple of Christ. But this is a great 
mistake. How can men, who are ignorant of the foundation which 
constitutes the excellency or the vileness of actions, form a right 
estimate of their moral quality? With the world, Barabbas is a 
god, and Christ, the Lamb of God, is a malefactor, a blasphemer, a 
seditionary, a beelzebub, and should be put out of existence. Your 
nearest acquaintance, therefore, who are without faith in God, will 
never give you right counsel concerning your religious duty. 
Meekness they may call pride ; earnestness in the truth, ambition 
and intolerance ; a desire to propagate the word of God, they may 
stigmatize as a seditious and disorganizing spirit ; and every good 
trait they may discolor by a bad name : but, to evil, they would 
render their praise and assistance. The approbation of such coun- 
sellors is emptiness, and their censure is folly. The wrath of such 
enemies might be an evidence of your acceptance with God ; but, 
though they pierce and slay the body, their malice recoils upon 
themselves, and over your immortal part they have no power. In 
the work of God, confer not with carnal men : take your directions 
from the Lord Jesus himself; for He has given you an example, 
sealed with his bloody which you cannot misunderstand. 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 251 

But seek not danger unnecessarily, and cherish the body, as an 
organ, the soundness of which is needful for the exhibition of sound 
manifestations of mind. Remember the injunction of our Saviour, 
and 



BE WISE AS SERPENTS 
AND HARMLESS AS DOVES 



.* 

J 



for your life and safety are deposits from the Lord, in your hands, for 
His great purposes, and you have no right to cast them away, except 
upon the call of duty. Of such a call, when it shall come, judge 
honestly and prayerfully before God, and with all the faculties and 
powers which He has conferred upon you for judgment, calling to 
your aid, also, all the proper means within your reach, to enable you 
to form a correct conclusion, in that awful situation. Fear not death ; 
for Christ has slain his terrors ; fear only to die, unlawfully : but 
when death must needs come, look him in the face, and receive him 
as a messenger for good, over whom countless numbers of weak 
men, and women, and children, have joyfully triumphed, even when 
he presented himself to them with his bitterest outward sufferings. 
All pain is abhorrent ; but no bodily pain can equal what may be 
the agony and fear of remorse. From these^ the faithful are freed : 
and to them, death is a new birth into an endless life ; the grave, a 
narrow portal of entrance into the visible presence of Christ, our 
God, and Father, and Brother, and His innumerable and bright 
hosts of beatified angels, who have passed through the same trials 
with us, and stand ready to receive us into heavenly mansions. 

In your conflicts with wicked and violent persecutors and adver- 
saries, you will always require to have a sure and ready test, by 
which you can discriminate the extent to which, as a Christian, 
you may carry the right of self-defence. Let it, therefore, be en- 
graven upon every feeling, that 



GOD IS LOVE 



and that all His chastisements and inflictions upon wicked men, are 
of a preventive and corrective character, and are providences of be- 
nevolence even to His enemies and murderers : they are parts in His 
great work of universal redemption and salvation. To resist the wrath 
of man, you must have upon your sidie^ firsts justice ; and, secondly, 

* Matt. X. 16. 



252 PRACTICAL DUTIES. 

and at the same time, (which, however, may be said to include the 
former,) love and mercy, which look to the good and reformation 
of your very persecutors, calumniators, and smiters. You must not 
resist, solely because you wish to be thought a high-minded, honor- 
able man, a brave, a hero, who will not permit himself to be 
injured nor insulted with impunity. If resistance should have no 
other effect than only to mingle the blood of slain enemies with 
your own, then remember that such resistance must proceed from 
any thing else than the spirit of Him who was oppressed and 
afflicted, yet He opened not His mouth ; who was brought as a lamb 
to the slaughter, and as a sheep before his shearers is dumb, so He 
opened not His mouth.* 

Many agitations and movements are now progressing in the 
world. The persons concerned in them you may range under four 
heads : first, those who grow or remain rich and honorable under 
the present corruptions — such as kings, clergy, and nobles, with 
many others. These men are the firm opposers of all liberal change. 
Secondly, those who love the roots or sources of the present cor- 
ruptions, and wish that they should remain, but are desirous to pro- 
duce some trimmings, prunings, or modifications in the branches. 
This class we may call conservatives. Thirdly, those who are 
oppressed, or who take part with the oppressed, or, from any other 
cause, wish to pull down and destroy all existing arrangements and 
security, without conforming their movements to the laws of nature, 
or putting up any, better system than that which they demolish. 
This class we might call destructionists. Fourthly, those who see 
that the present organizations of things have their roots in evil, and 
that all the fruits thereof are and will be evil, and who, by the bless- 
ing of Providence, are determined wholly to eradicate these evils, 
and plant in their place, trees bearing righteousness. But, in this 
great work of total regeneration, they look to the laws of nature, 
and conform their movements to the mandates of God. All the 
exertions of this class are directed to a total and radical regenera- 
tion. Their professed and constant aim is to make all things new : 
yet they do not seek to accomplish their purposes by forceful divi- 
sions, by sanguinary tumults, by destruction of public faith, nor by 
the sword, nor the threat of violence. Peaceably, but firmly, they 
turn the wicket gates of moral suasion and instruction ; after a time, 
the waters in the chamber of the lock are levelled with the higher 

* Isai. liii. 7. 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 253 

Stream, and the larger gates then freely move on their turnings, and 
open almost of themselves. This class we might call radicals ; 
but a better name is Christians. 

You cannot regenerate or reform the world, by an outward revo- 
lution. You must begin within. The kingdom ol' God, is within 
you; and His kingdom alone can yield the peaceful and happy 
fruits of righteousness. Out of the heart, are the issues of life ; 
and the outward state of the world, at any period, is comformable 
to the inward state, or mental and moral condition. Men must 
be united by love in heart, before they can be united as co-members 
of one body in Christ. The spirit must be there, quickening and 
impelling the body, in its actions and habits, or else the body will 
fall, perish, and putrify, and its limbs and flesh be dissolved or scat- 
tered. Hence you must proclaim liberty to the captives, and the 
opening of the prison to them that are bound, by teaching all 
nations, baptizing them into the Name of the Father and of the 
Son and of the Holy Ghost ; teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever that the Lord hath commanded : thus will He ever be 
with you to bless you. All revolutions which seek to change the 
outward condition of mankind, while the inward state remains full 
of the old leaven of deceit and malice, are like the attempts of the 
seditious, who fortified themselves in the temple of Jerusalem, as 
recorded by Josephus, and refused to acknowledge a bondage to 
Caesar, although they were in bondage to their own vile lusts, pas- 
sions, and crimes. They were a terror to themselves and to others. 
Take, therefore, in your hand, as your weapon of conversion, not 
the sword of violence and of blood, but the 

GOSPEL OF THE LAMB OF GOD. 

Yet outward conditions of society, react very powerfully upon the 
inward mind ; for physical, moral, social, domestic, and political 
organizations, in nations, very greatly influence our character, as 
well as indicate what it is. Seek the best organizations. While 
you excite the proper inward spirit, do not neglect the outer covering ; 
or the body and the hmbs. All true behevers are kings and priests, 
a royal priesthood, to God ; as kings and priests, they should 
be a free, sovereign people, owning the Lord Jesus only for their 
Monarch, and a holy priesthood, subject only to Christ their High 
Priest. In these United States, we are greatly blessed in a free 



254 PRACTICAL DUTIES, 

government ; even here, however, as well as in other countries, a 
social state exists, which is based upon a universal, perpetual, and 
implacable war and aggression of individuals, adverse to the true 
spirit of Christianity, and incompatible with its perfect exercise. 
To this subject, I have heretofore referred ; nor is it necessary for 
me to dwell upon the point, since the able writings of several dis- 
tinguished authors, have lately brought the evils of the present 
social system, distinctly before the public view. I have no hesita- 
tion in saying, that the present collisions of interest, and the great 
frauds, injustice, and cruelty, necessarily entailed upon the social 
state, as it is now universally organized in nations, brand it with 
the mark of Cain, the first homicide ; the blood of slaughtered 
innocents cries unto God against it, from the ground, and it cannot 
abide. But while I earnestly recommend the attentive study of 
the works of the advocates of association, I pretend not to give an 
opinion for or against the details of their plan.* The ■principle of 
association^ is undoubtedly correct. As regards the various parts 
and springs of the machinery, the spirit of Christ, when it gives 
life to the body, would soon remove any weakness or imperfection, 
which may exist, and would exhibit the community, as that great 
city, the New Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 

* The human body, is a physical, organic structure, fitted for the worship of God. Yet 
it is not the fact, that all bodies of this make, do worship God, according to the laws 
which He has appointed for us ; although our organization is right, the motives by which 
we are impelled, may be wrong and sinful. 

So, a particular social organization, may be a structure fitted for the operations of 
charity and the worship of God. Yet such a society, might still be impelled by sinful 
motives, hostile "to the sentiments and laws which God has commanded. 

Nothing but the cross of God, and His love, as exhibited therein, can raise mankind 
from moral death, and grant us life eternal ! We must be one body, many members but 
one body ; a collective social unity, quickened and kept alive by the Spirit of Christ. 

In regard to the movements of the Fourierites, in philosophy, science, or religion, I 
can say nothing ; as I am wholly uninformed of their views. Therefore it is, that I 
cannot give an opinion for or against the details of their plan. I do not know them, and 
cannot speak of them. But when proposed to us, we must try and approve, or reject 
them, as we should all other matters, by the standard of the divine word, and the laws 
which our heavenly Father has appointed to govern the mind, in the attainment of experi- 
mental knowledge, not by dogmatizing, but by demonstration. 

In every association, past labor, (viz : capital,) as well as present labor and skill, should be 
protected and made secure in its just rewards. It is as an industrial association, securing 
labor, skill and capital in the enjoyment of their proper fruits ; extending to every 
individual the advantages of a valuable and practical education ; uniting all in the bonds 
of social harmony and brotherhood, and rendering industry attractive by exalting it to its 
real honor and nobility ; in this view it is, that I speak of Fourierism. Beside, the 
books on this subject, very forcibly and truly point out the evils of the present social 
system, and exhibit the inseparable connexion between vice and misery. 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 255 

having the glory of the Lord, and resplendent all over Avith living 
and precious stones ; her walls and her gates and foundations, 
inscribed with the names of the tribes of the holy spiritual Israel, 
and the apostles of the Lamb. 

Would that I could now conclude. But, to the shame of our 
country be it spoken, that in this land, more favored than any other 
by free political institutions, in this age of light and science, and in 
the very sanctuary of the professing churches of Christ, that foulest 
national crime and abomination, Human Slavery, exists ; and men 
are found Winded enough to attempt to justify it by the sacred 
writings. How can slavery be justified by that law which requires 
us to love our neighbour as ourselves ? If it is our duty and our 
happiness to be like Christ, then let any Christian professor, who 
defends slavery, show a single incident or word in the life or preach- 
ings of Christ, in His humiliation, death, and ascension to glory, 
which is at all reconcileable with the idea, that we can deprive our 
brother of his unalienable right of freedom, that we can make mer- 
chandize of his flesh and soul, treat him as a beast of the field, or 
withhold from him the productions of his labor and skill, which belong 
to him, and invade the nearest and dearest aflfections of his nature. 
It is impossible ! 

But " the fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth 
are set on edge ;" the inheritance has been transmitted to us from 
former days ! 

Is that any reason why we should continue the inheritance ? If 
the children, seeing the iniquities which have been done, shall con- 
sider and do no more the like, then they might say, slavery was the 
sin of ages gone bye. 

But the effects of the institution are now so mingled and extended 
through all our affairs, that we cannot abolish slavery without 
hazarding our own safety and best interests. 

The same excuse might be given for a continuance in other knowni 
sins : to abandon them, might diminish our wealth ; interfere with 
our worldly honors and exaltation, and abridge our sensual 
indulgences. But it is a fatal error to suppose that to do right, and 
to bring forth fruits meet for repentance, is a ground for divine 
judgment against us. On the contrary, to continue slavery, will 
most surely bring down upon our country the heaviest vengeance of 



256 PRACTICAL DUTIES. 

the Most High ; for, as has been justly said, there is not an attribute 
in the whole character of God, which could induce Him to take 
part with the slaveholder against the slave. 

But why speak to us in the free states upon this subject ? Slavery 
is not permitted in this state, and I do not see that w^e have a right 
to agitate questions concerning the peculiar institutions of our sister 
republics : more especially in this matter, a controversy on which 
might endanger the stability of our excellent and glorious federal 
constitution. 

Adultery, theft, and murder, are not permitted by the laws of the 
free states ; yet persons who lust, covet, or hate, are guilty of these 
crimes in the sight of God. Because an offence is not permitted by 
the laws of a state, is that any reason why we should not speak 
against it? He who justifies slavery, or who, if the laws permitted, 
would hold his brother in bondage ; he, too, who takes part with 
slaveholding by a compact or agreement with slave states, to aid and 
assist them in the crime of retaining their fellow men in service as 
slaves — all such persons, although they live in free states, are, in the 
contemplation of the divine law, slaveholders ; as much so as he 
who justifies theft in heart, is guilty spiritually : for the law of God 
reaches the conscience, and not only the outward act. At the 
tribunal of the Searcher of hearts, all will be judged as actual 
holders of slaves, who defend, justify, or aid* and abet the crime, 
whether their bodily hands have, in very deed, been polluted by 
contact with the sin or not. These truths, therefore, do concern us, 
and all citizens of the United States ; for they are truths, by which 
we must be tried at the great day, and which will influence our 
eternal destinies. 

But are not the slaves in our states more enlightened and happy 
than they could have been, had they been reared in Africa 1 Slavery 
in the United States is a blessing, and not a curse, to the descend- 
ants of Africa. 

So the slavery of Joseph in Egypt was overruled by the Lord, and 
a blessing followed from it ; but it was a most foul and heinous sin, 
in his brethren, who acted so unjustly to him. If you search the 
Bible, and all other history, you will discern that the Lord overrules 
the sins of men for our correction and reform. Our thoughts are 
evil ; but the Lord meditates good to us. 

* See Channing's Address on the Anniversary of the Emancipation in the West Indies. 



PRACTICAL DUTIES. 257 

Our Saviour tells a parable of the good Samaritan who helped his 
neighbour, when he had fallen among thieves. What sort of benevo- 
lence would the Samaritan have shown, had he said to the dying 
man, I will now hold you as my slave ; for had I not come to your 
assistance, you would have perished ; your condition, as ray slave, 
will be better than if you were left to linger and die miserably on 
the highway ! 

Eusebius of Cesarea, in his church history, (page 335,) informs 
us of a moderation in persecution. Instead of destroying life 
altogether, the Pagans then only ordered that the eyes of the con- 
fessors should be torn out, or that one of their legs should be ampu- 
tated. This, the persecutors thought, was very great kindness. 
*^So that, (as Eusebius continues,) in consequence of this 
HUMANITY of thcirs, it was impossible to tell the great and incal- 
culable number of those that had their right eye dug out with the 
sword first, and after this, seared with a red hot iron ; those too, 
whose left foot was maimed with a searing iron." 

Strange that Christian confessors, or professors, should now copy 
the acts of the heathen, and even go beyond them in barbarity, and 
allege in their excuse, we do these things as a kindness and a 
humanity : we put out the eyes, we maim the limbs, we manacle 
the body, we hold our fellow men in bondage and extort slave 
services from them, because, forsooth, it is an advantage to them to 
be reared in the United States, surrounded by the instructive bless- 
ings of liberty^ and Christian precept and example^ instead of being 
left to perish or drag out a benighted existence on the sands of their 
native Africa. 

The true disciple of Christ, lives and dies for the benefit of his 
brethren : he takes up his cross and follows our Lord. Yet as we 
cannot, any one, do all things, we know, that in pursuance of the 
established laws of nature, which proceed from a small beginning 
to greater results, we must have a point of commencement, or a 
centre of action : this centre may, perhaps, in almost all cases, be 
the very lot in which Providence has already prepared and cast 
our station. Christianity is not without natural affection. Our 
homes, our state, our country, demand our faithful attention and 
services ; none of the virtues and duties connected with these 
relations, are abrogated. But Christian love does not end with 
home, with state, nor with country, but encircles the earth, and 
33 



258 PRACTICAL DUTIES. 

penetrates with its pure light and genial heat, the entire universe of 
God. The good which we desire for ourselves, we desire also for 
others ; nor can our full peace and jubilee ever come, until every 
created soul of man, throughout all the land, shall hear and parti- 
cipate in the glad tidings of universal salvation and universal 

LIBERTY. 



THE END. 



I 



ERRATA. 

On page 23, in line 15, for ^^ facilities, ^^ read faculties. 
*' " 26, in line 4, for " in Canaan," read before Canaao* 
" " 42, in line 7, for " have,^ read leave. 



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